Cthulhu Wars Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Printed Components
• Plastic Components
• Setup
  • Place the Map
  • Set Up Tracks, Tokens, and Dice
  • Set Up Factions
  • Set Up Start Areas on the Map
  • The First Player
• Game Basics
  • Object of Game
  • Phases of Play
  • The Map
  • Units and Faction Pool
  • Gates
  • Special Abilities and Spellbooks
  • Elder Sign Trophies
  • Faction Cards
• Action Phase
  • The Four Types of Actions
  • The Seven Common Actions
  • Unlimited Actions
  • Ongoing Special Abilities
• Gather Power Phase
  • How to Earn Power
  • Minimum Power Rule
• Determine First Player Phase
• Doom Phase
  • Doom Track Advancement
  • Rituals of Annihilation
  • Instant Death
  • Special Events and Abilities
• Battle
  • Pre-Battle Abilities
  • Combat Dice Calculation and Rolls
  • Post-Battle Abilities and Assigning Battle Results
  • Applying Battle Results
  • Battle Examples
• Victory: Ending and Winning the Game
• Rule Omega: The Final Question
• Player Tips
  • General Tips
  • Great Cthulhu
  • Crawling Chaos
  • Black Goat
  • Yellow Sign
• Two Player Rules
  • Two Player Set-Up
  • Changes for Two Player Games
  • Balance Adjustments
  • Tips and Tricks

Printed Components

• Six Sided Dice (20)
• First Player Token
• Ritual of Annihilation Marker (1)
• Map Boards of Earth (2) (printed on both sides, front and back)
• Ritual of Annihilation Tracks (6) (3 Player; 4 Player; 5 Player; 6 Player; 7 Player; 8 Player)
• Doom Track
• Faction Cards (4)
• Gates (24)
• Desecration Markers (12) (for Yellow Sign Faction)
• Spellbooks (24) (6 per Faction)
• Faction Tokens (4)
• Elder Sign Trophy Tokens (36)
• Player Hint Cards (4)
• Cloth Bag
• Rule Book

Plastic Components

GREAT CTHULHU

• Cthulhu
• 6 Acolyte Cultists
• Power Marker
• Doom Marker
• 4 Deep Ones
• 2 Starspawn
• 2 Shoggoths

YELLOW SIGN

• Hastur
• 6 Acolyte Cultists
• Power Marker
• Doom Marker
• 4 Byakhee
• 6 Undead
• The King in Yellow

CRAWLING CHAOS

• Nyarlathotep
• 6 Acolyte Cultists
• Power Marker
• Doom Marker
• 3 Nightgaunts
• 3 Flying Polyps
• 2 Hunting Horrors

BLACK GOAT

• Shub-Niggurath
• 6 Acolyte Cultists
• Power Marker
• Doom Marker
• 4 Fungi from Yuggoth
• 2 Ghouls
• 3 Dark Young

Setup

Place the Map

The Map is in two pieces (Eastern and Western Hemisphere), and is printed on both sides. The two sides have identical continental shapes, but the 5-Player side of the Map is divided into far more Land Areas than the 3-Player side.

2-Player Game: Go to page 60 for modifications on how to set up Cthulhu Wars for two players.

3-Player Game: Place the game board so the 3-Player sides of each hemisphere are face-up. The map will display 13 total Areas.

4-Player Game: Place the game board so that a 3-Player hemisphere is face up, and a 5-Player hemisphere is face up. For your first games, we recommend that you use a setup in which the Eastern Hemisphere is 5-Player, and the Western Hemisphere is 3-Player. In either case, the map will display 17 total Areas.

5-Player Game: Do NOT place both 5-Player sides face-up unless you are playing a five player game (only possible if you have one of the Faction expansions). The 5-Player game displays 21 total Areas.

Set Up Tracks, Tokens, and Dice

• Place the Ritual of Annihilation Track for the appropriate number of players on one end of the table (the remaining Ritual of Annihilation Tracks can go back in the box; they are not needed).
• Place the Ritual of Annihilation Marker pointed at the lowest number (5) on the track.
• Place the Doom Track next to the Ritual of Annihilation Track.
• Place the Gates and Dice in easy reach of all players.
• Place the 36 Elder Sign Trophy Tokens in the Cloth Bag and shake them up. Alternately, you may simply turn all the Elder Sign Tokens face down on the table (with the Elder Sign on top), and mix them up.
• Hand each player a Hint Card.

Set Up Factions

Each player must select a Faction to be. If you want to choose randomly, you may place the Faction Glyph tokens in a cup and draw them, but it does not violate the spirit of the game to simply select a favorite Faction. In the latter case, disputes can be settled by permitting the younger players first choice.

Each player takes their Faction Card, their six Spellbooks, and all plastic pieces of their color. If the Yellow Sign Faction is in play, that player also takes the 12 Desecration Markers; otherwise, the Desecration Markers can go back in the box for this game.

Place each player's Doom Marker on the zero space on the Doom Track. Each player then places their Power Marker at the 8 space on their Power Track on their Faction Card.

Set Up Start Areas on the Map

Each player must check their Faction Card to find their Start Area. All players start with a Controlled Gate and 6 Acolyte Cultists in the Area marked with their Faction's Glyph. Place one of the 6 Acolytes on top of the Gate, the other 5 simply in the same Area.

The First Player

When Great Cthulhu is in play, his Faction's player is always the First Player. He takes the First Player Token and sets it in front of him. If Great Cthulhu is not in this game, choose the First Player by any means you wish. (We recommend going alphabetically by Faction name—i.e., Black Goat is before Yellow Sign). Note: The Windwalker Faction may never be the First Player at the beginning of the game!

The First Player then places the First Player Token with either the clockwise or counterclockwise side face up—this determines the direction of play. Throughout the game the First Player token will change hands, and can change direction as well.

Game Basics

Object of Game

The player who has the highest Doom on the Doom Track and has placed all 6 Spellbooks onto their Faction Card, wins the game. See Victory: Ending and Winning the Game on page 50 for more details.

Phases of Play

The Game is played out in four distinct Phases:

1. Action Phase
2. Gather Power Phase
3. Determine First Player Phase
4. The Doom Phase

After setup, play begins with the Action Phase and proceeds through each Phase, returning to Phase 1 after Phase 4. This cycle continues until the game end is triggered (see Victory: Ending and Winning the Game on page 50 for more details). A typical game of Cthulhu Wars will last between four and six cycles through these four Phases.

Each Phase has its own section detailing how to play through it.

The Map

The Map is divided into Areas. Each Area represents a coherent part of the world and is defined as either ocean or land. Each Area has its name printed on it. On the Earth Map, ocean Areas consist of the North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and Arctic Ocean. All other Areas (including Antarctica) are land.

For most game purposes, there is no difference between ocean and land. Any Units can freely Move into the ocean, perform Actions there, and so forth. Occasionally abilities may distinguish between ocean and land, (notably Y'ha Nthlei and Submerge). In other Maps found in expansion products, occasionally the term 'sea' is used instead of 'ocean.' In game terms, a sea and an ocean are identical—any ability or text referencing oceans is read to include seas as well.

Note that the Areas on the far right of the Map directly connect to those on the far left (because the Earth is round). You can Move a Unit from the Indian Ocean directly to the South Pacific. Note that the North Atlantic is directly adjacent to the Pacific!

Units and Faction Pool

Each player has a Pool, in which he keeps not-yet-in-play Spellbooks and plastic figures (Units) within easy reach. Set it up near your Faction Card. Feel free to read your Spellbooks. Yellow Sign's Desecration Markers are also part of its Pool.

Each Faction has 3 categories of Units: Cultists, Monsters, and Great Old Ones. In the Core Game, the only type of Cultist is an Acolyte Cultist, and every Faction has exactly 6 of them. Each Faction has more than one type of Monster, each with different characteristics. No Factions share the same type of Monster with any other. Great Old Ones are individual beings, and thus every single Great Old One has a name, and no two are the same.

You are limited by the number of figures in your Pool for each Unit. For instance, you can never have more than 6 Acolyte Cultists, nor can you have more than 4 Deep Ones if you are playing as Great Cthulhu. During play, if you have placed all Units of a particular type onto the Map, you cannot place anymore until one is placed back in your Pool.

A Unit that is in your Pool is not considered to be in play, and vice versa. A Unit can be removed from play and returned to your Pool by being Killed during a Battle, or by being Eliminated. Eliminations can result from Actions, special abilities or as part of a Battle as well.

Gates

Each player starts the game with a Controlled Gate. This means that a single Acolyte Cultist is on top of the Gate. A Gate can never have more than a single Cultist on top of it, Controlling it. Thus, a particular Gate is only ever Controlled by a single Faction. A Gate can also be Abandoned, which simply means that no Cultist is on top of it. Monsters and Great Old Ones cannot Control Gates, and are never on top of them (with the exception of Black Goat's Dark Young, when they have The Red Sign Spellbook in play).

Throughout the game, more Gates will be Created. No Area can ever have more than a single Gate in it. Gates are highly valuable—they provide both Power and Doom points, which enable you to win the game.

Special Abilities and Spellbooks

Sources of Special Abilities

Each Faction in Cthulhu Wars is strikingly different, and one of the main ways this is so is due to unique special abilities. These are derived from three sources:

1. Faction unique ability, found near the top of the Faction Card, and available from the start
2. Spellbooks, which become available as they are placed on your Faction Card during play
3. Each Great Old One has its own unique ability, available while that Great Old One is in play (found on the bottom left section of the Faction Card)

Types of Special Abilities

Every Special Ability belongs to a category, shown in parentheses next to its name, which governs when that ability takes effect. There are five basic types of Special Abilities:

1. Actions: These are abilities you can use during the Action Phase (detailed on page 23).
2. Battle: These take effect only during a Battle (detailed on page 37).
3. Gather Power Phase: These abilities take effect each Gather Power Phase (detailed on page 32).
4. Doom Phase: These abilities take effect each Doom Phase (detailed on page 35).
5. Ongoing: This means the ability is always in effect and benefiting your Faction.

Spellbooks, Great Old One Special Abilities, and unique Faction abilities are optional to use. This means that at the moment you would use the ability, or when the ability's effect would do something (including an Ongoing ability), you may choose for the effect to not take place. Because Special Abilities are intended to help your Faction win, it is usually better to use them every chance you get. Occasionally, however, circumstances arise (usually for a Battle ability) when you may not want that ability to take effect.

Some abilities are not optional and they must take effect at the appropriate time, in which case it would say on the text of the ability.

Special Note on Abilities

If a special ability targets an enemy Unit in an Area, the victim typically selects which of his Units is targeted by the ability. There are some rare exceptions, which are stated in the text of the ability. If it does not specify who chooses which Unit to be affected, then the owner of the Unit decides.

Earning Spellbooks

Earning Spellbooks works a lot like a video game achievement. When you fulfill one of the requirements written on your Faction Card, you must place a Spellbook from your Pool over that requirement slot. No particular Spellbook is ever tied to any particular requirement slot. You may freely choose any Spellbook to go over any slot. You never lose a Spellbook, even if the requirement is no longer true—once earned, they remain on your Faction Card and are available to use throughout the game.

Example: Black Goat has a requirement which states "Have Units in 4 Areas." As soon as her Faction has Units in at least 4 Areas, she gains a Spellbook and places it on her Faction Card over that slot. Even if on the very next turn someone drives her out of them so that her Units are only in three or fewer Areas, she retains the Spellbook on her Faction Card for the rest of the game.

You can earn more than one Spellbook at the same time, if you meet all requirements at that time. However, there are a few that can only be earned simultaneously if performed in a specified way, in which case it will be explained on the Faction Card (for example, for two of Great Cthulhu's and two of Crawling Chaos' requirements).

Each individual Spellbook enhances your Faction significantly, and therefore a major part of your game strategy is tied to when and in which order you obtain your Spellbooks.

Important Note: If you gain a Spellbook as part of or during a Battle (for example, Great Cthulhu's requirements that require a Devour and/or Kill in Battle), then you do not receive the Spellbook until the entirety of the Battle is resolved. Hence you cannot use a Spellbook earned as a result of a Battle during that same Battle.

Elder Sign Trophies

Elder Sign Trophy tokens symbolize the shattering of the bonds that once held the Great Old Ones in check. They actually represent the destruction of Elder Signs, but for simplicity, we simply call them "Elder Signs" instead of "Elder Sign Trophies" in most of the text.

Whenever you earn an Elder Sign, take an Elder Sign token from the Cloth Bag and (without revealing it to other players), place it face down on or by your Faction Card. You may examine your own Elder Sign tokens freely. All Elder Signs have either a number 1, 2, or 3 written on them. This indicates how many Doom Points that Elder Sign is worth. There are 18 Elder Signs worth 1 point, 12 that are worth 2 points, and 6 that are worth 3 points.

Although the number on each Elder Sign represents how much Doom it is worth, you do not immediately gain that Doom along the Doom track when you receive an Elder Sign. Rather, you decide when to gain the Doom for each Elder Sign. To do so, you must reveal the Elder Sign(s) and then advance your Doom marker along the Doom track the appropriate number of spaces. You may do this at any time—during any of the four Phases of play, or even wait until the very end of the game to reveal and gain Doom. It is typical for most Elder Signs to remain unrevealed until the end of the game, thus concealing the true Doom totals of each player.

When you reveal an Elder Sign to gain Doom, do not place that Elder Sign back in the Cloth Bag. It is gone for the rest of the game, and can never be re-drawn. Place it back in the box.

In the unlikely event that all Elder Signs have been earned by the players, when a new Elder Sign is earned, simply give the player a Doom point instead—this would not be secret.

Faction Cards

Your Faction Card contains a great deal of information.

A. Faction Name

B. Faction Portrait: A handy spot to place your Captured Cultists.

C. Power Track: Use your Power Marker to Track your current Power throughout the game.

D. Unique Ability: Every Faction has its own special ability, and is available throughout the game.

E. Setup Information and Faction Glyph

F. Cultist and Monster Information: Shows a silhouette and gives Cost and Combat for your Cultists and Monsters, plus any notes. Next to the name is a number which is how many of that Unit are available in your Pool.

G. Great Old One Information: Shows your Great Old One's silhouette and Cost and Combat, plus notes. All Great Old Ones have extensive notes, which describe how to Awaken that Great Old One step-by-step, give the Combat formula for that Great Old One (if any), and describe the Great Old One's special ability.

H. Spellbook Requirements: Each of these six spaces has the requirement which must be met before you may place a Spellbook in that slot.

Action Phase

The Action Phase is when most of the game takes place. During the Action Phase, each player in turn can move Units, cast spells, engage in Battle, and otherwise interact. This is where the Great Old Ones destroy the world as they war with each other for dominance.

During setup the First Player should have been selected (always Great Cthulhu, if in the game). At the start of the Action Phase, the First Player always goes first, and they will take a single Action. When they finish, the next player in turn takes an Action. This continues around until every player has performed an Action. Then, the First Player takes a second Action, following around again.

Each Action performed will cost a certain amount of Power which must be spent before the Action occurs. To take an Action, simply lower your Power Marker on your Power Track the appropriate amount and then perform the Action. If you do not have enough Power to perform that Action, you cannot perform it, and must select a different Action.

You cannot take more than a single Action on your turn, and you cannot decline to take an Action if you still have Power. You must choose an available Action to perform and spend the appropriate amount of Power (usually 1–3 Power). If you still have Power and do not want to take an Action during the Action Phase, you may voluntarily drop all your Power to 0.

If you have no Power left when it is your turn to take an Action, you are skipped. You cannot even perform an Action which costs 0 Power. However, if you are at 0 Power, and an ability or Spellbook provides you with Power, you can participate in that Action Phase during your turn, taking an Action as normal.

The Action Phase continues with each remaining player who still has Power until all players are finally out of Power and no one can take any more Actions. At this point the Action Phase ends. Play passes to the Gather Power Phase.

Think of the Action Phase as multi-sided chess: you have a lot of options, but can only make a single Action each time. Then, each other player gets a chance to respond to it (if able)!

Being the only player left with Power in an Action Phase is one of the best things that can happen to you! You are the only player who can take turns, so you perform Actions until out of Power, while all the other players sit there helplessly as you mess with their stuff!

The Four Types of Actions

There are four categories of Actions in Cthulhu Wars: Common, Unique, Spellbook Requirement, and Unlimited Actions.

Common Actions

Common Actions are available to all Factions. Any player may choose to perform one of seven Common Actions on their turn, detailed in page 25.

Never leave an Acolyte Cultist alone on a Gate in a critical area once Cthulhu has the Dreams Spellbook (a Unique Action)! Place a second Cultist in the Area if possible. While this won't prevent Dreams, since you pick which Cultist is affected, Cthulhu has to pay a total of 6 Power in order to steal the Gate. Or, guard your Cultist with a Monster. If Cthulhu Dreams him away, you can Capture his replacement.

Unique Actions

A Unique Action is one that is only available to your particular Faction. It can be from your Unique Faction Ability, a Spellbook you have earned, or your Great Old One's Special Ability. Sometimes a particular Unique Action has an additional requirement in order to perform it, even if it is available. For example, Great Cthulhu's Faction cannot perform the Submerge Action (one of his Spellbooks), unless Great Cthulhu himself is in play.

Likewise, you cannot perform a Unique Action unless you are able to do all parts of it. For example, Yellow Sign cannot perform Zingaya to Eliminate an enemy Acolyte if there are no Undead in its Pool.

Spellbook Requirement Actions

These can be found on the Spellbook Requirement slots on your Faction Card. Most Spellbook Requirements are not Actions, but they will begin with the words, "As an Action" or "As your Action" when they are. Spellbook Requirement Actions only cost Power if it says it does, otherwise, it costs 0 Power. A Spellbook Requirement Action is always a discrete Action, and you cannot double it up with a Common or Unique Action. For example, Crawling Chaos has the Spellbook requirement of "As your Action, pay 4 Power." If you spend 4 Power on a Common or Unique Action, this does not mean that you have fulfilled that requirement. In order to fulfill it, you would have to spend 4 Power as your Action on your turn, gain a Spellbook, and nothing else happens. Because you never lose a Spellbook you have earned, you may only do a particular Spellbook Requirement Action once in the whole game.

When it is your turn to take your single Action, you must choose to take a Common Action or an available Unique Action or a Spellbook Requirement Action. You cannot take one of each—only a single Action on your turn!

If you are not sure what to do on your turn, look at your Spellbook requirements. You cannot go far wrong so long as you strive to gain new Spellbooks, or try to set yourself up for more Power on the next Action Phase.

Unlimited Actions

The fourth category, Unlimited Actions, allows you to break that rule. Unlimited Actions are special in that you can perform them in addition to performing your single Common, Unique, or Spellbook Requirement Action. Like Common Actions, Unlimited Actions are not particular to any Faction, and are available to all players. But like Unique Actions, they can sometimes have special requirements you must meet in order to be able to perform them.

The Seven Common Actions

Recruit Cultist — Cost: 1 Power (Requires any of your Units)

The Recruit Cultist Action allows you to place a Cultist from your Pool onto the Map. You must have one of your Units in the Area where you Recruit the Cultist. This Unit can be any Unit type (another Cultist, a Monster, or even a Great Old One). If you currently have no Units on the Map, you do not need a Unit in an Area where the Cultist is Recruited. In this way, you can return to play even if wiped off the Map.

You may only Recruit 1 Cultist per Recruit Cultist Action.

Summon Monster — Cost: varies (Requires a Controlled Gate)

The Summon Monster Action allows you to place a Monster from your Pool onto the Map. You must Control a Gate in the Area where you Summon the Monster. Pay the Monster's Cost (found on your Faction Card), and place it in the Area.

You may only Summon 1 Monster per Summon Monster Action.

Sometimes an ability will allow you to place a Monster on the Map (such as Yellow Sign's Desecrate Action, or Cthulhu's Devolve Spellbook). These are not the Summon Monster Action, and so do not necessarily require a Gate in the Area, and could allow you to place more than 1 at a time, depending on the ability.

Awaken Great Old One — Cost: varies (specific requirements apply)

Awaken Great Old One allows you to bring your Great Old One into play. Just as each Great Old One itself is unique, the way you place each one on the Map from your Pool is also unique. Your Faction Card has a series of steps (always at least two), that you must do in order to Awaken it. All of the steps combined make up the Awaken Great Old One Action.

As with Cultists and Monsters, you can only Awaken a single Great Old One per Awaken Action. Of course, most Factions only have a single Great Old One anyway.

Once your Great Old One is in play, its Special Ability is now available to use. If your Great Old One leaves play (by being Killed in Battle), then that ability is no longer available until you Awaken it again. Each time you Awaken your Great Old One, you must follow the steps again.

Since a Great Old One can be "Killed" (after which they must be re-Awakened), do not bring it out before you can protect it with other Units. Two exceptions are the King in Yellow and Cthulhu, since they are (comparatively) inexpensive to replace.

Create Gate — Cost: 3 Power (Requires Cultist)

To Create a Gate in an Area, you must have a Cultist there, and there cannot be another Gate there—only one Gate can ever exist in any Area. Pay 3 Power, and place the Gate. You may immediately place the Cultist atop the Gate to indicate you now Control it. (Technically, this is a use of the Unlimited Control Gate Action, detailed on page 29).

You may only Create 1 Gate per Create Gate Action.

Move — Cost: 1 Power per Unit Moved

To Move Units from Area to Area, spend as much Power as you wish. For each Power spent, you may move one Unit from its current Area into an adjacent Area. It does not matter where each Unit came from or where it goes to: you can Move Units from different Areas into the same Area, or into different Areas, or from the same Area into different Areas, or any combination you please.

Unlike Actions which place Units onto the Map from your Pool, you may Move as many Units as you want per Move Action. However, each Unit may only Move once per Move Action.

Battle — Cost: 1 Power (Requires Unit with at least 1 Combat)

To Battle another Faction, choose any Area in which both you and an enemy Faction have at least one Unit. If more than one enemy Faction has Units present, you must choose only one Faction to fight. All other Factions in the Area are merely idle bystanders.

In the Battle, each side will roll dice equal to their Combat total and inflict results on each other. Combat total is determined by totaling the Combat of each of your Units (found on your Faction Card) in the Battle. You must have at least 1 Combat on your side in order to declare a Battle. You may still declare a Battle on an enemy who has 0 Combat.

You may only Battle once, in one Area, per Battle Action.

Battle has several other rules and characteristics, all of which will be detailed on page 37.

Capture Cultist — Cost: 1 Power

The Capture Cultist Action is a means of removing enemy Cultists from the Map, and then Sacrificing them to your Great Old One later to gain Power. A Captured Cultist has been Eliminated, and is therefore no longer in play. However, unlike a normal Elimination, it does not immediately return to its Faction's Pool until the next Gather Power Phase (providing the Faction who Captured it with 1 Power). To signify that it is neither in play, nor in its Faction's Pool, when you Capture a Cultist, place it on your Faction Card.

To Capture an enemy Cultist, you must have a Monster or Great Old One in the same Area. However, the enemy Cultist you wish to Capture cannot have a protector in the same Area. Cthulhu Wars has a pecking order of protectors. Great Old Ones outrank Monsters, which in turn outrank Cultists. A Great Old One can Capture an enemy Cultist, unless the target is protected by its own Great Old One in the Area. A Monster can capture an enemy Cultist, unless the target is protected by its own Monster (or Great Old One). Cultists cannot capture Cultists. Note that even a single Monster protects a Cultist against any number of enemy Monsters who may wish to Capture it.

You may only Capture 1 enemy Cultist per Capture Cultist Action. If there is more than one Cultist in the Area, the player whose Cultist is being Captured chooses which one is Captured. (Thus, you need not allow a Cultist Controlling your Gate to be Captured, unless they are the last remaining Cultist in the Area).

Your Monster or Great Old never protects another Faction's Cultist from Capture by a third party. Only a Cultist's own Faction's Monsters and Great Old Ones can protect it.

Note that even if a Cultist has a Combat rating, or a Monster has a Combat of zero, the latter can still Capture the Cultist. Capture is not Battle, and Battle abilities do not apply.

REMEMBER: Monsters with Combat 0 are surprisingly useful. They can protect Cultists from being Captured by other Monsters, they can Capture Cultists themselves, and they can be taken as casualties in Battle, sparing more expensive Units.

Unlimited Actions

Unlimited Actions are special in that they are the only type of Action you may perform beyond your 1 Action allowed on your turn. They can be performed either before or after your Action, so that a turn in the Action Phase can be expressed in three chronological steps, like this:

1. Take any number of Unlimited Actions (including 0).
2. Take a single Common, Unique, or Spellbook Requirement Action (must be exactly 1).
3. Take any number of Unlimited Actions (including 0).

Special Note

The Yellow Sign Faction has 2 Spellbooks, named "The Screaming Dead" and "He Who is Not to be Named," each of which reads in part, "…Immediately after, you may take a second, different Action." These Spellbooks allow you to take two (non-Unlimited) Actions in a row. However, you may not perform an Unlimited Action between the two Actions from this Spellbook, as it says "Immediately." The use of one of these Spellbooks would make up the entirety of step 2 above.

There are two Unlimited Actions available to players: Control or Abandon Gate, and Unlimited Battle.

Control or Abandon Gate — Cost: 0 Power

If you have a Cultist in an Area with an Abandoned Gate (no enemy Cultist on top of it), this Unlimited Action moves your Cultist onto the Gate to Control it. This means that when you Create a Gate, you can immediately Control the Gate. Also, if on your turn you have a Cultist in an Area with an Abandoned Gate, then you can Control it freely, as part of your turn, no matter what other Action you may be taking.

You can also use this Unlimited Action to take a Cultist off a Gate, Abandoning it, and placing the Cultist in the same Area. Normally you would not Abandon a Gate. However, if your 1 Action during your turn were to Move a Cultist on a Gate to another Area, you would be Abandoning the Gate first as an Unlimited Action, then performing the Move Action as your turn. Another common use of Abandoning a Gate would be when Black Goat has the Red Sign Spellbook in effect. They might Summon a Dark Young, Abandon the Gate in the Area with their Cultist, and then Control the Gate with the newly-Summoned Dark Young, all in the same turn (they took the Summon Action as their Action, followed up by the two Unlimited Actions of Abandon and then Control Gate).

You can perform the Control or Abandon Gate Action as many times as you like on your turn. However, it cannot be the only Action you perform. You still must perform a single Common, Unique or Spellbook Requirement Action.

Note that Unlimited is not the same as anytime, it must occur on your turn. You cannot Control an Abandoned Gate with a Cultist except when it is your turn to take an Action. If two players both have Cultists in an Area with an Abandoned Gate, the first player to take an Action will be able to Control the Gate.

Unlimited Battle — Cost: 1 Power (Requires 6 Spellbooks)

If you have 6 Spellbooks on your Faction Card, you can perform Unlimited Battle. Each Unlimited Battle you perform still costs 1 Power, allowing you to initiate as many Battles as you wish before and/or after your single Common, Unique, or Spellbook Requirement Action.

You can still perform Battle as a Common Action if that is all you want to do on your turn. Unlimited Battle is simply an option for you, once you have 6 Spellbooks.

Since Battle can be either Common or Unlimited when you have 6 Faction Card Spellbooks, you can first perform a Battle, and then decide whether it was Common or Unlimited. (You might do this so that after seeing the results of the Battle you can then choose to do a single Common Action or another Unlimited Battle somewhere else, for example.)

There is an important restriction on Unlimited Battles, however: you can still only initiate one Battle per Area on your turn. You also cannot declare a Battle as a Common Action in an Area, and then do an Unlimited Battle in the same Area: only one Battle total per Area on your turn. If, as a result of a Battle you performed, your Units are retreated to another Area, you can then do an Unlimited Battle in that new Area, and so forth. However, if they are then retreated back into the original Area, they can't initiate a Battle there because of the 1 Battle per Area rule.

Ongoing Special Abilities

Ongoing special abilities are not Actions, but can take effect during the Action Phase. Because they are not Actions they do not have a Power Cost, and you can still do them (at the appropriate time) even when you are out of Power. The rule about your turn being skipped when out of Power only applies to Actions. It does not apply to Ongoing or other types of abilities!

Between Action Effects

A few Ongoing abilities use the words "After any player's Action..." or "At the end of any player's Action…" You can choose to use these abilities, just as written, after another player's Action, but before the next Action takes place! These can even be used in the middle of another player's turn, if they are performing Unlimited Actions.

If more than one player wants to use such an ability after a player's Action, and there is a dispute over who chooses to use their ability first, resolve it by turn order (i.e., the First Player goes first).

Gather Power Phase

After the Action Phase, every player is out of Power. In the Gather Power Phase, all players earn Power anew, placing their Power Marker on the new total along their Power Track. Each player performs the Gather Power Phase simultaneously. (If this is the first game for anyone, it is best to go through it player by player).

How to Earn Power

• Earn 1 Power for each Cultist you have in play.
• Earn 2 Power for each Gate you Control.
• Earn 1 Power for each Abandoned Gate on the Map (each player gains 1 Power per Abandoned Gate).
• Return all Captured Cultists to their owner's Pools, and earn 1 Power for each Cultist you return. You may not choose to keep a Cultist—they must be returned during the Gather Power Phase.
• Check for special abilities and Spellbooks that provide Power during the Gather Power Phase.

Example: Rich has two Controlled Gates and three Cultists in play. He also has Captured one enemy Cultist. He gets 3 Power from his Cultists, and 4 Power for his two Controlled Gates. A Gate on the Map is currently Abandoned, so he gets 1 Power from that source (as do all other players). He must sacrifice the Captured Cultist, which gets him an additional 1 Power. His total Power should be set to 9.

Non-Cultist Units such as Monsters and Great Old Ones do not (with rare exceptions) produce Power. Only Cultists can produce Power! Also note that Factions often have some special way to gain Power during the Gather Power Phase. This differs per Faction and might require a particular Spellbook.

The Power Track goes to 20, but you may have more than 20 Power. If a player reaches 21 or more Power, you need to keep track of it by other means. The easiest is to "wrap around," so that if your Power is 23, you would place your Faction Marker on the 3 space, and just remember that it is really 23. Then, when it hits the 0 space, immediately place it on 20 instead (when you are at 21 Power, represented by a '1' on the track, and you spend 1 power, move it to 20, rather than 0, or else you would be giving yourself a free extra Power!)

Minimum Power Rule

At the end of the Gather Power Phase, after everyone has recorded their Power on their Power track, check for the Minimum Power rule: if your Power is less than half that of the player with the most Power, increase your Power to be half of that player's Power total, rounding up. Thus, at the end of the Gather Power Phase, all players will have a Power total in a range between the highest player's and half of the highest.

Example: After a disastrous turn, Rich finds himself with a total of 4 Power at the end of the Gather Power Phase. Fortunately, Angela has 13 Power, which is also the highest total, so Rich sets his Power to 7 (half of 13, rounding up).

Once everyone has recorded their new Power total and checked for the minimum Power rule, play passes to the Determine First Player Phase.

Determine First Player Phase

During this Phase the First Player is selected. The First Player Token is given to the player who has the most Power. If two or more players are tied for most Power, then the player who had the First Player Token last round decides which of the tied players receives the First Player Token. (They can choose themselves, if they are involved in the tie.)

After the First Player is determined, they take the First Player Token and set it in front of them. They choose whether to have the clockwise side face-up, or the counterclockwise side. Whichever side they select determines the order of play, starting with them, during all Phases until the next Determine First Player Phase. (If you have a special First Player figure from one of our Kickstarter campaigns, simply point it in the direction you want play to proceed!)

If the same player is the First Player consecutively, they still choose anew each time whether to set the First Player Token clockwise or counterclockwise.

Once the First Player and the direction of play have both been determined, play passes to the Doom Phase.

Doom Phase

When the game ends, the player with the highest Doom (and all 6 Spellbooks) will win. The Doom Phase is the primary time when players' Doom advances. Also, this is often the Phase during which the game's end will trigger (though not always).

The Doom Phase has two steps to complete in turn:

1. Doom Track advancement (simultaneously)
2. Rituals of Annihilation (in player order)

Doom Track Advancement

Advance each player's Doom Marker on the Doom Track a number of spaces equal to her Controlled Gates. For instance, if they Controls two Gates, they advance two spaces. This can be done simultaneously. No one gets Doom for Abandoned Gates.

Rituals of Annihilation

Starting with the First Player and proceeding in player order, each player chooses to perform a Ritual of Annihilation or not. Each player gets the chance to do one and only one Ritual of Annihilation.

To Perform a Ritual of Annihilation

1. Spend Power equal to the current position of the Ritual Marker on the track (this ranges from 5 to 10).
2. Advance the Ritual Marker one step up the Ritual of Annihilation track (this usually increases the cost for later players).
3. Advance your Doom Marker on the Doom Track one space per Gate you Control (doubling your Doom increase based on Gates this Doom Phase).
4. Gain one Elder Sign Trophy Token per Faction Great Old One you Control in play.

Example: Rich is First Player and has three Controlled Gates and Nyarlathotep on the Map. At the start of the Doom Phase, he advances his Doom Marker three spaces, for his three Gates. All other players also advance, according to their Gate total. During the Ritual of Annihilation step, Rich decides to perform a Ritual of Annihilation. The Ritual Marker is in the 5 space, so Rich pays 5 Power (and advances the Ritual Marker to the next space, which shows a "6"). Rich now advances his Doom marker another three spaces (for his three Gates), and receives an Elder Sign for Nyarlathotep, his Great Old One. This Doom Phase he advanced a total of 6 spaces on the Doom Track, plus he received an Elder Sign. The next player to perform a Ritual of Annihilation must pay 6 Power, since Rich advanced the Marker. If he had not performed the Ritual of Annihilation, he would have 5 more Power entering the Action Phase, but would be missing out on those three extra Doom Points and Elder Sign.

Instant Death

If the Ritual Marker is on 10 and a Ritual of Annihilation is performed, the Ritual marker moves to the "Instant Death" space. This means that at the end of this Doom Phase, the game will end, and victory will be determined. See the section titled Victory: Ending and Winning the Game on page 50 for more details.

Players who have not yet had a chance to perform a Ritual of Annihilation when the Ritual Marker is advanced to "Instant Death" may still choose to perform one when it is their turn to choose. The cost remains at 10 for all subsequent Rituals. Remember, in the Doom Phase, each player gets exactly one chance, in player order, to perform a Ritual, and this is true even in the Doom Phase in which "Instant Death" is reached.

Special Events and Abilities

Some Spellbooks, special abilities or even Spellbook requirements take effect during The Doom Phase. Usually these occur when it is your turn to perform a Ritual of Annihilation (whether you do so or not).

Examples include Black Goat's Blood Sacrifice Spellbook, and the two Doom Phase Spellbook requirements that Great Cthulhu fulfills. Some Map events also occur here (available in expansion products). Additional examples abound, such as acquiring Neutral Monsters and Terrors.

If you can use multiple abilities or events, you can choose which order to perform them. Example: the Tcho-Tcho can Awaken Ubbo-Sathla in the Doom Phase by sacrificing a High Priest, and can also be forced to Sacrifice all their High Priests for Elder Signs with Tablets of the Gods if they perform a Ritual of Annihilation. They can choose to Awaken Ubbo-Sathla first, and then perform the Ritual (and sacrifice all remaining High Priests), or perform the Ritual first, when they also sacrifice all their High Priests, and then not be able to Awaken Ubbo-Sathla!

Once the all players have advanced the Doom track for their Controlled Gates, had a chance to perform a Ritual of Annihilation, and performed any special abilities, play passes again to the Action Phase, to repeat the cycle of Phases.

Battle

Battle is perhaps the most complex of all events in the Cthulhu Wars game. It is an Action, initiated by a player, as described in the Action Phase section (see page 27). A Battle takes place in a single Area, and involves only two Factions, no matter what other Units may be in the Area. The Faction which initiates the Battle must have at least 1 Combat among its Units in the Battle. Even though Battle can be an Unlimited Action (when you have 6 Spellbooks on your Faction Card), a Battle may only ever occur once per Area on a given player's turn.

All Units in the Battle Area, from both Factions who are Battling, must participate in the Battle.

After the Battle Action has been paid for by the player who initiates it, the Battle proceeds through the following steps:

1. Pre-Battle Abilities
2. Combat Dice Calculation and Rolls
3. Post-Battle Abilities and Assigning Battle Results
4. Applying Battle Results

Pre-Battle Abilities

The first step is to use (or choose not to use) any Pre-Battle Spellbooks or abilities. As with all abilities, Pre-Battle abilities are optional unless the text says otherwise. Because they are not Actions, they do not require Power to use (unless the text says otherwise). Some require a particular Unit type to be present in the Battle to take effect, while others merely require one of your Units to be in play (but not necessarily in the Battle itself).

The Faction who initiated the Battle (the attacker) uses all of her Pre-Battle abilities first, in any order desired. The Faction being attacked (the defender) then chooses to use any desired, in any order. This means that all of the attacker's Pre-Battle abilities take effect before any of the defender's are chosen and used. If the attacker refrains from using a particular ability, they cannot then use it after the defender has chosen and used any Pre-Battle abilities.

Some Pre-Battle abilities Eliminate, Kill, or otherwise remove a Unit from the Battle. If this happens, that Unit does not participate for the remainder of the Battle, including the remainder of the Pre-Battle segment. For example, if Great Cthulhu is in a Battle, and his Faction is the attacker, Great Cthulhu may use his Pre-Battle ability Devour to Eliminate an enemy Monster or Cultist. If the Eliminated Unit had an ability (whether Pre-Battle, Post-Battle, or anything that would affect the Battle), it cannot be used, because that Unit is no longer in the Battle.

However, if that Eliminated Unit had already used its ability, and the ability generates an affect throughout the rest of the Battle, the effect remains. For example, Crawling Chaos can initiate a Battle, use its Flying Polyp's Invisibility to "exempt" Great Cthulhu's Shoggoth, and then even if Cthulhu Devoured that Flying Polyp, the Shoggoth would remain Invisible and "exempted" throughout the rest of the Battle. The Flying Polyp itself would be removed, of course.

If all Units of one Faction are somehow removed during Pre-Battle, you do not need to go on to the next step! The Battle is over—and no further abilities can be used. For example, if Great Cthulhu initiates a Battle against Crawling Chaos, and Cthulhu Devours Crawling Chaos' sole Unit, the Battle would end. Crawling Chaos could not even use Seek and Destroy, as the Battle is immediately over. Had Crawling Chaos initiated the Battle, he could use Seek and Destroy first, of course.

Combat Dice Calculation and Rolls

After all Pre-Battle abilities on both sides have taken effect, it is time to calculate Combat and roll dice. Each Unit has a Combat rating (listed on the Faction or Loyalty Card), which represents how powerful that Unit is in Battle. Some have 0 Combat, and some require a simple calculation (such as Yellow Sign's Monsters, and many Great Old Ones). Your Faction's Combat in the Battle is equal to the sum of all your Units' Combat involved in the Battle. For example, if you are playing as Crawling Chaos and have an Acolyte and 2 Hunting Horrors in the Battle, your Combat would be 0 + 2 + 2 for a total of 4 Combat.

Because Pre-Battle abilities may modify the Combat totals, don't add the numbers up until all Pre-Battle abilities have taken effect!

After determining Combat totals, both sides roll that many dice. You can roll simultaneously, or take turns.

After rolling, count up the number of sixes you rolled. These are Kill results. Then, count up the number of fours and fives you rolled. These are Pain results. Any rolls of 1, 2 or 3 are misses and do not count as Battle results. In the next segments these results will be assigned to Units and then applied.

There are a few abilities that are written as simply Battle abilities (instead of Pre- or Post-Battle). These abilities would modify this segment. For example, Opener of the Way's Channel Power Spellbook allows him to re-roll dice that did not roll a Kill or Pain result.

Post-Battle Abilities and Assigning Battle Results

After totaling the Battle results for each side, players must assign the results the enemy rolled to their own Units.

First, assign only the rolled Kill (6) results, but not the Pain results (4 or 5). Kills are always assigned first. If there are Kills rolled in excess of the Units, ignore them.

When assigning the Kill results, players may choose to use any Post-Battle abilities they have available. Post-Battle abilities typically add to, subtract from, or in some way modify the Battle results or how they are assigned. Post-Battle abilities can also add a third type of result: an Elimination. If a Post-Battle ability adds an Elimination, it must be assigned at that point (alongside the Kills). As with Kills, excess Eliminations are ignored.

Post-Battle abilities are unlike Pre-Battle abilities in that if they add or assign a Kill, Elimination or otherwise remove a Unit from the Battle, they do not prevent that Unit from using its own Post-Battle abilities. In other words, both sides may always use all Post-Battle abilities they have available during this segment.

There are a few Post-Battle abilities that can be used even when you are not involved in the Battle (in which case it always declares this on the text of the ability). This is the only way a Faction not directly involved in a Battle can participate. A key example is Black Goat's Necrophagy Spellbook which reads that you can use it even when you are not involved in the Battle.

After assigning all Kills and Eliminations, it is time to assign the Pains (rolls of 4 or 5) to your Units. As with Kills and Eliminations, if there are excess Pains rolled, ignore them. In the next and final segment of Battle, Kills will remove a Unit from play, and Pains will force them to retreat to adjacent Areas.

Post-Battle abilities that modify Pains may be appropriate to use when assigning Pains, rather than (or in addition to) when assigning Kills. For example, Windwalker's Eternal ability could be used at this point, rather than when assigning Kills. Also, Crawling Chaos' Harbinger can be activated both when a Kill and a Pain is assigned. Also, Yellow Sign's Vengeance is used when assigning Kills, Eliminations, AND Pains. In either case, all Kills and Eliminations must always be assigned before any Pains are.

Importantly, once a Post-Battle ability has been triggered (whether during the assigning of Kills OR the assigning of Pains), its effect takes place, no matter what happens to the Unit which has the ability—whether that Unit is also or later Killed, Eliminated, etc. In other words, Post-Battle abilities do not retroactively prevent other Post-Battle abilities from having taken place, even though they may modify the assigning of Battle results due to already used Post-Battle abilities. (see the Battle Examples on page 40 for how some Post-Battle abilities may interact in this way).

Note that many Post-Battle abilities are triggered by Kills or Pains. These are specific results, meaning that if an Elimination occurs, it would not target that ability. For example, Windwalker's Cannibalism requires an enemy Unit to be Killed, not Eliminated (such as via Devour, Abduct, etc.). Sleeper's Demand Sacrifice does not protect against Eliminations, only actual Kills, etc.

Applying Battle Results

After all Battle results have been assigned, they need to be applied to their respective Units. Eliminations and Kills remove the Unit from the Map to be returned to their Faction's Pool. As with assigning results, Eliminations and Kills must be applied before Pains. Both sides can remove Eliminated and Killed Units at the same time.

After all Eliminations and Kills have been applied, it is time to apply Pains. Pained Units are retreated and moved to Areas adjacent to the Battle Area. As with assigning results, you choose where your own Pained Units are retreated to. They do not need to all go to the same Area, but can be split up among multiple Areas if desired.

If you are the attacker in a Battle, and receive several Pains, a good tactic may be to Pain those Units to all the Areas around the Battle Area to completely surround your enemy and force an extra Elimination!

The player who initiated the Battle (the attacker) applies all her Pains first, followed by the defender.

You cannot retreat a Pained Unit to an Area containing any Units belonging to the Faction you just Battled. If there are no such adjacent Areas, such that none of your Pained Units can be retreated, then select a single Unit among them and Eliminate it. The other Units remain in the Battle Area as if they were not Pained. This Eliminated Unit can be a Great Old One!

During the application of Battle results there are some Post-Battle abilities which may take effect. Most Post-Battle abilities affect the assigning of results, but not all. A key example is Crawling Chaos' Madness (which also has the feature that it can be used even when Crawling Chaos is not involved in the Battle). Crawling Chaos' Madness ability allows him to direct where each Unit is Pained to, rather than the Faction owner.

Battle Examples

Simple Battle Example

Angela initiates a Battle against Frank in East Africa. She has two Byakhee, three Acolyte Cultists, and the King in Yellow. Frank has two Acolyte Cultists. Angela's Byakhee gives her 1 more die than the number of Byakhee in the Area, while her Cultists and the King have Combat ratings of zero, so she rolls 3 dice. Frank is playing Black Goat, and his Frenzy Spellbook is in play, so his Cultists each have a Combat of 1. Frank rolls 2 dice. Angela rolls 2 Pains and no Kills, while Frank rolls a Kill and no Pains. Angela chooses to Kill one of her Byakhee, and Frank must retreat both Cultists out of the Area.

Complex Battle Example 1

Rich initiates a Battle against Angela in East Africa. He has Cthulhu, a Shoggoth, two Deep Ones, and three Cultists. She has the King in Yellow and five Undead.

In the Pre-Battle segment, Rich's Shoggoth Absorbs one of his own Deep Ones, and Cthulhu Devours one of Angela's Units. She chooses an Undead (she had no choice really, because the King cannot be picked for Devour, as a Great Old One).

Rich then rolls 12 dice (6 for Cthulhu, 2 + 3 for the "Absorbent" Shoggoth, and 1 for his remaining Deep One), and Angela rolls her 3 dice (the amount she gets for having 4 remaining Undead in the Battle after Cthulhu Devoured one). Rich scores 1 Kill and 5 Pains, while Angela rolls 1 Kill and 2 Pains. Rich assigns the Kill to one cultist, and Angela assigns the Kill to an Undead.

Frank, as the Black Goat, chooses to use his Necrophagy Post-Battle ability to send 2 Ghouls into the Area. Rich must add 2 Pains to the results against him (all of Angela's Units will already be Pained from Rich's dice results).

Rich assigns the 4 Pains against him (2 from Angela, and 2 from the Ghouls) to everything except the Cultists on his Gate. Angela assigns Pains to all her Units (ignoring all additional Pains).

Now Crawling Chaos steps in. He has the Madness ability, and so he gets to choose where all Units retreat. He decides to retreat Cthulhu first, and sends Cthulhu to Arabia, 1 green Cultist to West Africa, the Deep One to the Indian Ocean, and the Shoggoth to the South Atlantic. (No Yellow Sign Units were in any of these Areas). Since East Africa is now entirely surrounded by Cthulhu's Units, the Yellow Sign is unable to retreat any Units, and must Eliminate one of her Pained Units. She chooses an Undead, and so the King and 2 remaining Undead stay behind, along with Cthulhu's Cultist, who is now en prise, vulnerable to the King to be Captured!

The following Battle Examples include abilities from expansions.

Complex Battle Example 2

Grant initiates a Battle with 2 Leng Spiders and an Acolyte against Spencer who has Hastur and an Acolyte. There are no Pre-Battle abilities, so they both roll their dice. Grant scores 2 Pains. Spencer rolls 1 Kill. Spencer, using Hastur's Vengeance ability, assigns the Kill he rolled to one of Grant's Leng Spiders, rather than Grant's Acolyte.

Now that the Kill has been assigned, Black Goat, who is in the game and has the Necrophagy Spellbook, decides to send in both of her Ghouls, adding 2 Pains to both Grant and Spencer.

Grant, with his 2 Leng Spiders' Bloodthirst ability, decides to turn all 4 Pains scored against Spencer into 2 Kills. Spencer must lose both his Acolyte and Hastur. The 2 new Pains scored against Grant send his remaining Leng Spider and his Acolyte to an adjacent Area.

Complex Battle Example 3

Anthony has Shub-Niggurath with a Fungus and initiates a Battle against David who has 2 Gnoph-Keh. With no Pre-Battle abilities, they both roll their dice. Anthony rolls 1 Kill and 1 Pain. David also rolls 1 Kill and 1 Pain. Anthony chooses his Fungus to receive the Kill, and David must assign his to one of the Gnoph-Keh. The Gnoph-Keh's Berserkergang ability is now activated when a Kill is assigned to it, which Eliminates an enemy Monster or Cultist. However, there are no enemy Monster or Cultists to assign it to (the Fungus is already assigned a Kill, and Shub-Niggurath is a Great Old One).

Anthony initiated the Battle, and so he first Pains Shub-Niggurath to an Area, followed by the remaining Gnoph-Keh, who is Pained elsewhere by David.

Complex Battle Example 4

John is playing as Black Goat and has Cthugha and 2 Acolytes with Frenzy, and initiates a Battle against Andrew who has 2 Gnoph-Keh. There are no Pre-Battle abilities, so both roll dice and each scores exactly 1 Kill, and no Pains. Andrew must assign the Kill to one of his Gnoph-Keh, while John takes the Kill upon his Acolyte. The Gnoph-Keh's Berserkergang ability is triggered, meaning John will have to also assign an Elimination to his other Acolyte (since Cthugha is immune, as a Great Old One).

However, after Andrew assigned the Kill to his Gnoph-Keh, John decides to "spare" the Gnoph-Keh with Cthugha's Fire Vampires ability, and gain 1 Power by reducing the Kill scored against the Gnoph-Keh to a Pain instead. Since the Berserkergang ability was triggered via the Kill assignation, which created an Elimination, the use of Fire Vampires does not retroactively nullify the Berserkergang's use, even though the Gnoph-Keh is now only going to receive a Pain.

After applying both Kills and the Elimination, the Gnoph-Keh is now the only unit with a Pain, and is Pained to an adjacent Area by Andrew.

Complex Battle Example 5

Lincoln has Yig and an Acolyte who is poisonous via the Snakebite ability, and a Serpent Man. Joey has an Acolyte and a Starspawn with the Regenerate Spellbook. Both roll their dice, and Lincoln rolls a Kill and 2 Pains. Joey rolls 1 Kill only. Lincoln assigns the Kill to his Acolyte, while Joey assigns the Kill to his Starspawn.

Post-battle abilities now occur, and Lincoln's Acolyte adds a Kill result to Joey's total results. Joey must now choose whether he will apply the second Kill to the Starspawn, or to save the Starspawn and Kill his Acolyte. He decides on the Cultist, and so the Pain is applied to the Starspawn (the other Pain that Lincoln rolled is ignored, as there are no Units to assign it to).

With a single Pain and a single Kill assigned to it, the Starspawn is merely Pained out of the Area (due to Regenerate).

Complex Battle Example 6

Bruce has a lone Nyarlathotep and initiates a Battle against Bill who has the King in Yellow with an Undead. Bill has no Combat, but Bruce rolls a single Pain. Bill assigns this Pain to his Undead to prevent Bruce from gaining any benefit for Paining a Great Old One (via Harbinger). Black Goat, however, is in the game with a Ghoul and sends it into the Battle via her Necrophagy Spellbook, adding a Pain to both sides.

Nyarlathotep is now Pained, but there is also a Pain against the King in Yellow, and so Nyarlathotep's Harbinger ability takes effect. Bruce decides to gain 2 Elder Signs, and then, via Madness, Bruce decides where the King, the Undead, and Nyarlathotep are all Pained to.

Complex Battle Example 7

Arthur has Gobogeg, 3 Leng Spiders, and a Formless Spawn, and initiates a Battle against Alice who has 6 Acolytes and a Gug. There are no Pre-Battle abilities, so dice are rolled. Arthur rolls 2 Kills and 2 Pains. Alice rolls 1 Pain. Alice assigns the 2 Kills and 2 Pains all to Cultists. Arthur assigns the Pain to Gobogeg.

Since Gobogeg is Pained, his Threnody ability then causes all Units (on both sides) without a result to receive a Pain. Alice's remaining 2 Acolytes without results and her Gug will all receive a Pain, 5 in total.

Arthur then uses his Leng Spiders' Bloodthirst to turn 4 of those Pains into 2 Kills (this is two uses of the Bloodthirst ability, which he can do once per Leng Spider in the Battle). Alice has 2 of her Acolytes receive those Kills, and she now only has a single Pain to assign (since four of them went away), which she puts on an Acolyte. Her sixth Acolyte and her Gug end up with no Battle results assigned to them at all. However, 4 of her Acolytes ended up being Killed. Had Arthur chosen to use his Leng Spiders' Bloodthirst ability before Gobogeg's Threnody ability, then there would have been fewer Pains for him to turn into Kills with Bloodthirst!

Complex Battle Example 8

Adam has a Spawn of Yog-Sothoth and an Abomination, and all 6 Spellbooks on his Faction Card (thus he has Unlimited Battle as an option). Dave has an Elder Thing. (Greg has a Shantak and a Y'Golonac in a different Area.)

Adam initiates a Battle, and rolls no Battle results. Dave rolls 2 Pains. The Spawn of Yog-Sothoth and the Abomination both get Pained to another Area, and then promote (via Million Favored Ones) into 4 Mutants and a new Spawn of Yog-Sothoth, respectively. They are Pained into an Area that contains Greg's Shantak with Y'golonac.

Since Adam has Unlimited Battle, he chooses to spend 1 Power to Battle Greg.

Adam rolls 1 Kill. Greg rolls 1 Kill as well. Adam chooses a Mutant to be Killed, and Greg selects Y'golonac.

Before Adam can promote (via Million Favored Ones), Y'golonac's ability Orifices allows him to replace his Killed Y'golonac with a surviving enemy Monster. Greg selects the Spawn of Yog-Sothoth, and hands Y'golonac's Loyalty Card to Adam, who is sad. It happens in this order, because Million Favored Ones reads that it takes effect after all Pains are also resolved, which has not happened yet. Orifices needs only a Kill to occur.

Adam's 3 remaining Mutants promote into Abominations. Adam wants to Battle Greg again, in the hopes he can get a Kill on Greg's Shantak and transfer Y'Golonac back, but cannot do an Unlimited Battle in the same Area twice on his turn, so Adam remains sad.

Complex Battle Example 9

Alex is playing as the Tcho-Tcho, and has Yig, an Acolyte, and his High Priest. He initiates a Battle against Joey who is playing as Opener of the Way with 2 Mutants and the Unique High Priest Keziah Mason.

Both sides roll exactly 1 Kill. Alex takes the Kill on his Acolyte, and Joey takes his upon an Abomination.

Since Alex's Acolyte has the Snakebite ability, it adds a Kill to the total results against Joey, who assigns it to Keziah Mason.

Now that Keziah Mason has been assigned a Kill, her Daemon Heroine ability is triggered, which will then add 2 Kills scored against Alex.

Since Alex's High Priest takes a Kill, which has the Tcho-Tcho Spellbook of Martyrdom, all other Kills against the Tcho-Tcho Units are transformed into Pains (even the rolled Kill already assigned to Alex's Acolyte since Martyrdom applies to all Kills that were assigned). However, the Snakebite ability that triggered an extra Kill on Joey has already taken place, so it is not removed from Keziah Mason—otherwise a paradox would occur! Post-Battle abilities that are triggered can modify the assignings of results, but do not retroactively prevent other Post-Battle abilities from having taken place; in this case, Yig's Snakebite.

In the end, Alex's High Priest is Killed, while Yig and his Acolyte are both Pained. One of Joey's Abominations and Keziah Mason are both Killed, leaving his other Abomination the only Unit remaining in the Area. (He doesn't have the Million Favored Ones Spellbook yet, so it doesn't promote into a Spawn of Yog-Sothoth.)

Victory: Ending and Winning the Game

There are two ways that the game's end is triggered: by a player reaching 30 or more Doom, or by the Ritual of Annihilation track reaching Instant Death.

When a Faction reaches 30 or more Doom along the Doom track, the game will end. Since Doom increases most often during the Doom Phase, it normally ends during the Doom Phase, and if so, complete the entire Doom Phase before declaring final victory. However, a player could reveal Elder Signs during the Action Phase, for example, and if these new Doom points increase his total to 30 or more, the game will end at the end of the current player's turn (even if it is not the turn of the player who revealed those Elder Signs and caused it to go over 30).

The game can also end during the Doom Phase when the Ritual of Annihilation marker reaches the Instant Death space. All players who have not had a chance to perform a Ritual of Annihilation may still do so. At the very end of that Doom Phase, the game will end, even if no one has reached 30 or more Doom points.

No matter how the game's end was triggered, all players may reveal all their Elder Signs before finally declaring victory.

When the game's end is triggered, and after adding everyone's Elder Signs to their Doom totals, the player with the most Doom AND with 6 Spellbooks on their Faction Card is the winner. If the player with the most Doom does not have 6 Spellbooks, whoever has the most Doom among those with all 6 Spellbooks on their Faction Card is the winner.

If two or more players have the most Doom, and both have all 6 Spellbooks, the game ends in a draw. Both players rejoice in their shared victory!

If the game ends and no player has all 6 Spellbooks, then humanity wins! All Great Olds Ones, Monsters and evil Cultists are sucked back through the collapsing Gates. (Yay!) But all players lose together.

Rule Omega: The Final Question

We have sought diligently to cover all possible rules questions, and to make the game as true to Lovecraft as we can. But we are mere mortals, and as such, subject to error.

If you come across some ability or Spellbook conflict, and cannot find the answer in one of our FAQs (or our website FAQ online), we recommend that the players in the game vote on the desired outcome—the owner of the game should probably get a bonus—like their vote counts for double. In the end, Cthulhu Wars is your game. If you feel compelled to add house rules to cover such issues, please do so with our blessing.

Player Tips

General Tips

The play can be divided into two main periods—the early game and the late game.

Early Game

In the first two to three Action Phases players should try to acquire Spellbooks, build up a power base, and Summon at least a minimal army. Be choosy about when you Awaken your Great Old One, because this generally leaves you weak for the rest of that Action Phase. Battle in the early game is opportunistic, based on attempts to take Control of enemy Gates or fulfill Spellbook requirements.

Late Game

This starts once you have your Great Old One out and three to four Spellbooks under your belt. You still need to finish up your last Spellbooks, but you can now afford a Ritual of Annihilation once in a while. Remember that the earlier you do your Rituals, the cheaper they are (and the more expensive your enemy's become). At this point, the purpose of Battle changes. You now seek to reduce your enemies' Gates so they are less effective at Rituals. If one player surges ahead in Doom Points, get the other players to work with you against them. If you are the player who surges ahead, try to break up such alliances.

Great Cthulhu

Playing Great Cthulhu

Your Spellbooks and abilities, even unused, cast a baleful influence on your enemy's activities. Submerge, Dreams, and Y'ha Nthlei all cast a pall over the map hindering your opponents.

In the early game, you get Spellbooks quickly. Get Cthulhu out on Action Phase two or three, even if he is vulnerable to an enemy attack. After all, you can re-Awaken him cheaply and gain one Elder Sign. It is far easier to get your two "Kill/Devour" Spellbooks once Cthulhu takes the field.

In the late game, use Submerge to strike critical enemy Areas. With Regeneration or Absorb plus Cthulhu's Immortal ability, you can hurl your forces into Battle with impunity. Cthulhu only rolls six dice, but an Absorbent Shoggoth gives you heft, plus Cthulhu's Devour ability is better than a free Kill.

Absorb

Turns Shoggoths into major combat dice. You only need one Shoggoth per attack, so long as he has "food" available. Remember that Cultists and Deep Ones are also useful to soak up hits so you may not want to Absorb them all.

Devolve

Keep a Deep One in your Pool to render you immune to Capture. Just Devolve a threatened Cultist immediately.

Dreams

This means that your enemies dare not leave a Cultist alone on a Gate. You may not often use Dreams vs. experienced players, but it affects their behavior throughout the game.

Regeneration

With this, Starspawn inure your army to harm, making them the flip-side to Absorb's massive damage output. Cthulhu accompanied by two Starspawns is well-armored even against enemy Great Old Ones.

Cthulhu's Faction is focused on destruction. Of all Factions, your Units are the most effective in a fight. On the other hand you are limited in obtaining Elder Signs, so you need to use your combat strength to ruin your enemy's bases and keep them from taking the lead.

Submerge

A critical Spellbook in the late game. Once Cthulhu's army submerges, not only is he safe from harm, but other players react in desperation. If you attack an Ocean Area, you can Submerge again after the strike.

Y'ha Nthlei

Like Dreams, this inhibits the enemy. Your foes are less likely to conquer your Ocean Gates, and you don't care as much if they do.

Thwarting Great Cthulhu

Cthulhu has strong Units, but not many of them. Each loss is a setback for him. When he hurls his might against an Area he is going to win, but you can mitigate this by not putting all your eggs in one basket. Killing Cthulhu himself isn't particularly effective (unless you are Crawling Chaos, since Harbinger then gives you two Power or Elder Signs), because soon he'll be back at R'lyeh, ready to Submerge and make your life hell.

Great Cthulhu: Epilogue

"It was gargantuan. A mountainous form rising from the sea, surrounded by lesser monstrosities that oozed and dragged themselves toward us with distorted limbs, tentacles, and pseudopods. When we heard that the Pacific Islands were empty, we didn't understand. We still thought in human terms. We hadn't considered that the colossal Thing had been eating, scouring the islands of life. And now it was here, hungry again."

—David Mendiola

Crawling Chaos

Playing Crawling Chaos

In the early game, focus on safety and power-building. Use Flight to set up bases in inaccessible Areas. Nightgaunts with Abduct discourage enemies from attacking your Cultists—at least they'll need to send more than one Monster. You won't need Nyarlathotep himself for a while, and he is stronger later in the game anyway. Your most awkward Spellbook requirement is often "Capture a Cultist", so look for any chance to pull this off.

In the late game, everything changes. Nyarlathotep now has a huge combat ability (up to twelve dice), and instead of fearing Battle, you should seek it. Smite their Great Old Ones for the Harbinger bonus. You can perform Rituals more safely than other players, because you can restore the Power imbalance with Thousand Forms, so you are not left as vulnerable afterwards.

More than any other player, you can hit an enemy where he is weak. As a result, if one player has surged ahead, the rest may try to convince you to save the day. Go ahead and save the day, but be sure to exact promises and tribute from the others. For instance, "Before I strike, I want you to evacuate your Gate in South America." Promises are not binding in Cthulhu Wars, so make sure you "see the money" before taking whatever Action you see fit.

Crawling Chaos is all about opportunism; striking at the weak and vulnerable. While some other Factions have a faster start on attaining Spellbooks, Crawling Chaos is often the Faction that completes his collection first. Your Units are not mighty in Battle, and your Spellbooks are defensive in nature. You are good at harassment, and debilitating foes over time.

Abduct

In the early game, this protects Gates from enemy Monsters. In the late game it is not as good, as you often need your Nightgaunts to soak up enemy Kills. It can sometimes be combined with Invisibility to pick off a good Monster.

Emissary of the Outer Gods

Less useful when Great Old Ones are out, but it does keep expensive Nyarlathotep safe from cheap attacks. Remember to use a Pain to retreat him somewhere safe!

Invisibility

Safely place an invulnerable Flying Polyp in an enemy Area. Also good to cancel obnoxious Units such as Starspawn.

Madness

Your signature Spellbook. It is not immediately destructive, but over the course of the game, your enemies' Units scatter inconveniently and it takes time and energy to restore the situation.

Seek and Destroy

Now your Gates are protected across the world from weak-to-medium attacks, since you can throw in a two-dice Monster at will. While on the offensive, your attacks are cheaper, since your Horror joins in for free. Also gives Nyarlathotep extra meat shields in case he is ambushed.

Thousand Forms

Early in the round, it forces enemies to give up a Power advantage. Late in the round, it boosts you when they are most vulnerable. Combined with Harbinger, you can achieve a surprise Power surge that makes your foes whine.

Thwarting Crawling Chaos

Crawling Chaos Units are excellent at staving off weak raids, but less effective against a major attack. Therefore take the gloves off and hit him with everything—as the Germans say, Klotzen, nicht Kleckern!

Nyarlathotep is terrifying, but if you do Kill him, it is a major setback, and Crawling Chaos may take a whole Action Phase to recover. His Cultists have no real defensive capability, unlike other players (Cthulhu has Devolve, Yellow Sign Passion, and Black Goat Frenzy), so they are vulnerable.

There is not much you can do about his Power drain abilities. Just suck it up and remember that it may be better to let your own Power drop rather than give him an undeserved boost.

Crawling Chaos: Epilogue

"The uncertainty is the worst. No one looks up. I remember when we could see the sun. You can't now, because They blanket the sky. No one wants to look up, and They know that. Everyday we live with the knowledge that it might be your last day. The only warning is a slither of sucking wind, flapping of wings, or the brush of something utterly alien on your skin. Then you're gone. I see fewer and fewer friends as time passes. How long before it is my time?"

—David Mendiola

Black Goat

Playing Black Goat

In the early game, the most common mistake a novice Black Goat player makes is to initiate diasporas of Cultists to immediately achieve the "Have Units in X Area" Spellbooks—but your enemies will move in once you are helpless from lack of Power. Build up at a sedate rate. Ensure that when you move Units into an Area they have support and protection, and in general use cheap Monsters to occupy Areas for Spellbook purposes, rather than Cultists. Thousand Young is best used defensively, for instance when an enemy moves on one of your Gates, reactively Summon a heap of trouble for him. Create a stronghold where you can Summon Shub-Niggurath safely.

In the late game, you can sadly annoy other players. Ghroth slows and cripples rivals. Battle becomes common, so Necrophagy can occur multiple times in a single Action Phase. Avatar steals weak enemy bases with prejudice—teleport to the spot, and they must send someone to your homeland. You can then Capture their Cultist or, if the Gate is Abandoned, Recruit your own Cultist to take it over.

The enemy often comes to you, in an attempt to stop the hurting, so sit tight. If you do need to strike at a distance, you have Avatar. You may not have as many Gates as other, more mobile, Factions, but you can make up for this—even with just two Gates plus Shub-Niggurath, Blood Sacrifice nets you two Elder Signs and four Doom Points per Doom Phase if you Ritual.

Frenzy

Excellent both defensively and offensively. If a foe moves a Monster into an area, hoping for a cheap Capture, declare Battle, and Pain him right back out.

Necrophagy

Use with impunity, as Ghouls are cheap (free, after Thousand Young). In a small battle, it can clean out an entire Area, allowing your Ghoul to Recruit a Cultist and take the Gate. Teleporting Ghouls around the world also helps meet Spellbook requirements.

As befits a fertility cult, Black Goat's emphasis is on occupation and expansion—sort of like a fungus infection. Unlike other Factions, you tend to be geographically restricted. You are not deadly in Battle (in fact, you have no battle Spellbooks except Frenzy), but you have plenty of cheap throwaway Units, so you are resilient. As you hole up in your homeland, your abilities let you target enemies by remote Control. This is your true strength.

Blood Sacrifice

Lets you earn an Elder Sign every Doom Phase. As a bonus, it puts Cultists back in your Pool, so you can Recruit them for use with Avatar or Necrophagy Gate-stealing.

Ghroth

A complex Action, requiring timing and preparation, but worth the trouble. Some players focus on Ghroth as a central strategy. Others keep it as an occasional treat. Both techniques are effective.

Red Sign

Gives you potentially more baseline Power than any other Faction, plus Gate-Controlling Units that can't be Captured. Remember, when you Summon a Dark Young under Red Sign, you can place it right on the Gate (replacing the Cultist who Summoned it).

The Thousand Young

Its utility is obvious, but it contains subtle touches. For instance, Summon a single Ghoul for zero Power, in effect marking time while seeing what the other players do. It is also demoralizing for a foe to launch a mighty attack on you, destroying three or four of your Units, only to have you Summon your lost Units right back at trivial cost.

Thwarting Black Goat

Black Goat is hard to dig out once settled in. However, they are easy to fend off in the first place, as their offensive Action is limited. Their Monsters are feeble, and have other tasks to perform besides fighting. This means that their main tools for conquest are Avatar and Necrophagy, and both involve starting out weak in the target Area. React vigorously to drive them back.

Once they are established, they are hard to stop, because they gets extra Power from Red Sign, and extra Elder Signs from Blood Sacrifice. At some point, you may need to go take out one of their citadels. Luckily, all three of the other Factions can pull this off with their Great Old Ones, properly used. Don't make the mistake of trying to extirpate Black Goat entirely—you will fail, and if you keep focusing on them, other enemies may surge ahead. Remember: Don't try to cure the Black Goat infection, just keep it contained.

Black Goat: Epilogue

"You can't rest these days. We have nowhere to simply lie down. Our streets are overrun with beasts, loping with cloven hooves and jackal grins. The skies are no better, filled by flying abominations, dripping with fungus. I hear they take your brain. I don't know what they do with it. Eat it? They say not. Something worse. But whatever you do, don't go into the newly-grown woodlands. You'll find Them there, giant horrors all mouths and tentacles. And at the center, stands the one who made Them. No, my friend, stay out of the forest."

—David Mendiola

Yellow Sign

Playing Yellow Sign

In the early game, be aware that you earn Spellbooks more slowly than other players, but concentrate on them. Awaken the King in Yellow soon (in the first Action Phase). It's easy to send the King in Yellow to North America after Desecrating Europe or Asia, but occasionally it's wiser to get into Africa early and even harsh on enemies by Capturing Cultists with the King, or spreading Zingaya. Many players prefer to migrate straight to Africa or America after Awakening the King, and save the Desecration of Europe or Asia for last.

The King in Yellow, despite its lack of Combat, is a terror. It moves quickly around the board with its Undead bodyguard, and its ability to take a second Action (with Screaming Dead) means you can Move into an enemy area and immediately use Zingaya, Capture a Cultist, or Shriek additional Byakhee there in preparation for devastating effect. You don't spend much Power on Summoning Monsters (most are generated via Desecration attempts), so focus on other priorities. Remember to leave a trail of Monster "breadcrumbs" behind you, so they can suckle Power from your Desecrations. Even if an enemy moves into the area to attack you, this will cost them 2 Power (one to move, one to Battle), so a rearguard's Elimination is no tragedy. Plus it puts your Monster back into your Pool to be recalled upon the next Desecration or Zyngaya.

In the late game, you need to finish remaining Spellbooks. Usually you have few Gates, so you rely on Third Eye or your two Great Old Ones for Elder Signs. Thanks to Vengeance, when Hastur rolls into Action, you can ensure an enemy Great Old One will die. By this time you should be getting significant Power from Feast, to be used for Rituals or other purposes. With Hastur, you now have two choices for your double-Actions: either the King or Hastur can move, and then you can do something else useful. In the late game, Hastur's signature move is to use He Who Is Not To Be Named to enter an enemy's space, then Shriek of the Byakhee to give them a bodyguard, and then declare Battle (Unlimited with six Spellbooks) to assassinate any other Great Old One.

You are constrained by strange rules, and seem to be playing your own separate game. However, in doing so, you do plunge the other players into a living nightmare. You leave a trail of scattered Units across the map, forcing foes to spend an inordinate amount of time and energy to expunge your traces. You have no real home base, but are nomadic, leaving ruin in your wake. You get Actions more quickly than other players, and can often do two things on the same turn, which gives you a flexibility no one else has. Your Units are weak, but usually free, and numerous, which makes you resistant to loss. In effect, you can't dish it out, but you sure can take it.

He Who is Not to be Named

The basic function is to assassinate an opposing Great Old One, but it has other uses which become obvious with experience. Remember the extra Action does not have to involve Hastur.

Passion

Can actually "resurrect" you when out of Power. It also hinders the foe. (i.e., they may choose to attack someone else, rather than give you Power).

Screaming Dead

You'll use this a LOT, so don't put it off. It needn't be the first Spellbook you acquire, but it shouldn't be the last either.

Shriek of the Byakhee

Flexible, and gives both defense and offense. Shriek when an enemy invades, or after Screaming Dead or He Who is Not to be Named to give your Great Old Ones oomph.

Third Eye

Once you finish earning Spellbooks, Third Eye keeps you interested in Desecrating. In effect, you get an Elder Sign for 2 Power (one to move and one to Desecrate), plus at the same time you earn a potential power source and a new Monster. It's the best bargain in the game!

Zingaya

The biggest problem with Desecration is mustering the troops. With Zingaya, you not only get a Unit, but your enemy is down a Cultist.

Thwarting the Yellow Sign

If you are playing against Yellow Sign, remember their Monsters are puny. Because they are also numerous, you need to attack them more than once to knock out an area, but at least you don't have to fear serious losses. Third Eye is terrifying, but they need both their Great Old Ones out, plus enough Monsters to succeed at Desecrating. This gives you many tools to stop them.

One of Yellow Sign's oddities is that they tends to have too many Cultists sitting around in Europe—he is benefited by losing a few of them early game, so he can use the King to bring them forth around the world. So if you want to cause the most damage, don't hit Europe, strike at the King itself. You are unlikely to Kill the King, but just scattering their zombie army really hurts.

Yellow Sign has plenty of weak pseudo-bases (in the form of Desecration Tokens) scattered round the Map. You can't spend all your time attacking these, but do it when convenient.

Yellow Sign is constrained by his need to Desecrate certain Areas. If you can keep him out of, say, Africa or the Americas, you stop their progress. This is easier said than done, but each turn you delay their advance, the more desperate they get.

Yellow Sign: Epilogue

"I've done horrible things. I killed lifelong friends. Parents. Children. Why, you ask? Because … the King in Yellow. He whispered … secrets and portents. It just made sense. Don't worry, my victims didn't stay dead. They are a gift to the Unnamed One and so they follow, like the others. So the King in Yellow has his entourage as he spreads his message."

—David Mendiola

Two Player Rules

Cthulhu Wars requires a number of sizable changes to make it an effective two-player game. First, ensure that you and your opponent are familiar with the basic set of multiplayer rules. You do not need any components or expansions beyond the base game to play 2-Player.

Two Player Set-Up

• Use the 3-Player side of the Map.
• Use the 4-Player Ritual of Annihilation track.
• Take an unused Faction's Doom Marker and place it at 0 on the Doom Track. This marker becomes the Decay Marker.
• Most expansions can be used. With the multiplicity of options available in Cthulhu Wars, however, it is likely that some combinations of expansions and Factions may lead to inequity. Please be aware of this.

Changes for Two Player Games

General Rules

When a Unit is Eliminated or Killed, the opposing player gains Doom equal to that Unit's Power cost! However, when a Unit is replaced by another, no Doom is gained.

• Example 1: Black Goat Eliminates 2 Cultists for their Spellbook requirement. Their enemy gains 2 Doom.
• Example 2: A Shoggoth absorbs a Cultist for Battle. Their enemy gains 1 Doom.
• Example 3: When Opener of the Way Replaces a Spawn with Yog-Sothoth, or Promotes monsters with Million Favored Ones, no Doom is gained by the enemy.
• Example 4: Cthulhu Devolves an Acolyte into a Deep One, no Doom is gained by the enemy.

Some Units have variable Power costs. In this case, the Doom gained is equal to the average of the Unit's different Power costs added together, whether or not the Power benefit is currently in effect. Always round up the final total.

• Example 1: Cthulhu's Power costs are 10/4, so Killing him is worth 7 Doom.
• Example 2: Black Goat's Units have a Power cost which is potentially 1 less due to Thousand Young. Therefore, Ghouls have an average Power cost of (1+0)/2, or 0.5, which means they still give the opponent 1 Doom when they die. The same goes for the other Black Goat Units, all of which end up giving the opponent Doom equal to their baseline cost, due to the rounding factor.
• Example 3: Windwalker's Gnoph-Kehs have a Power cost of 4/3/2/1, which when averaged is 2.5, so killing a Gnoph-Keh is worth 3 Doom.

Units which are able to avoid death by means of Abilities or Spellbooks still provide Doom to the enemy which "Killed" them, but only half as much (rounded up).

• Example 1: If Rhan-Tegoth uses Eternal to avoid dying, the enemy gets 3 Doom for "Killing" him.
• Example 2: If Nyarlathotep avoids death by Emissary of the Outer Gods, the enemy still gets 5 Doom for "Killing" him.
• Example 3: Regenerating Starspawn who takes a single Kill and thus avoids death gives the enemy 2 Doom (half their cost of 3).

Action Phase

Most Actions are unchanged. Some, however, are adjusted.

At the Start of Your Turn

Before taking your turn, you must pay Power equal to the position of the Decay Marker on the Doom Track. This marker starts at 0, and then starts to increase when the other player runs out of Power, in effect penalizing you for taking multiple Actions in a row.

Unlimited Battle

When Unlimited Battle is unlocked for a player (by possessing 6 Spellbooks on their Faction Card), the other player also immediately gains Unlimited Battle.

Voluntarily Dropping to 0 Power

You cannot voluntarily drop to 0 Power, if you have more than 1 Power. You must perform an Action on your turn.

Running Out of Power

If you are out of Power (or, for Windwalker, if you are Hibernating), when it would be your turn to take an Action, increase the Decay Marker by 1. Then the other player takes their turn.

Example: Rich has 1 Power left, while Frank has 10. Rich decides to Recruit an Acolyte, going down to 0 Power. Frank then takes his turn, Moving 1 Unit. Now Frank has 9 Power. Rich is out of Power at the start of his turn, so he bumps the Decay Marker up to 1. Frank now pays 1 Power for Decay, then takes another Action (declaring Battle, for 1 Power). Frank is now down to 7 Power. Rich is still out of Power, so he bumps the Decay Marker up to 2. Now Frank, before taking his next Action, pays 2 Power for the Decay Marker. His Action is to recruit a Cultist, for 1 Power. Now Frank is down to 4 Power. Rich on his "turn" moves the Decay Marker to 3. Frank pays 3 Power and then has 1 Power left for what is his last Action.

Gather Power Phase

• Return the Decay Marker to the 0 spot on the track at the start of Gather Power.
• Gain Power per normal rules.

Determine First Player Phase

Unchanged

Doom Phase

• You do not gain Doom for simply Controlling Gates!
• The Ritual of Annihilation still produces Doom equal to your Controlled Gates (plus an Elder Sign per Faction Great Old One in play).

Balance Adjustments

Some of the normal rules and Spellbooks from Cthulhu Wars need adjustment for the two-player version.

• When rolling the die for Ghroth, Thousand Forms, and Dread Curse of Azathoth, the effects are halved (round up).
  • Example 1: If a 1–2 is rolled for Thousand Forms, only 1 Power is extorted. If a 5–6 is rolled, 3 Power is extorted.
  • Example 2: Ghroth Eliminates 1 Cultist on a roll of 1–2, and 2 Cultists on a roll of 3–4 (assuming Black Goat has 4 Fungi From Yuggoth in 4 Areas).
  • Example 3: Dread Curse of Azathoth doesn't halve the results; instead the number of dice are halved. Thus, if Opener of the Way has three relevant Monsters in play, he rolls 2 dice (instead of 3).
• Opener of the Way's Gate Spellbook requirement for 12 Gates is reduced to 10 (as noted on the Faction Card).
• Yog-Sothoth's Combat is always 4.

Tips and Tricks

The damage from the Decay Marker is significant, and changes the game flow significantly. Early game strategies that work in Cthulhu Wars multiplayer may no longer be effective in the two-player version. However, rest assured that new strategies have arisen to meet the challenge, and the game has as much depths, aggression, and chicanery as before. Have fun exploring!

Keeping your Great Old One alive is even more important than before, because his death gives the enemy a major Doom boost. Some Spellbooks become more important—Ghroth, for instance, is now one of the mightiest weapons available to Black Goat.

Also, choosing when to NOT using abilities can become a critical decision. For example, Yellow Sign may not always want to use Passion's Power gain (since it's not always beneficial).

We recommend against using Bokrug, Servitors of the Outer Gods, the Dhole, or the Library of Celaeno map for the two-player game. That said, it's your game and you can do as you please.