Cursed Empire: Heroes of Thargos

Cursed Empire: Heroes of Thargos Rulebook

Table of Contents

What's in the Box

1 Rules Booklet.
210 Cards: 33 Character Cards, 56 Lasting Cards, 55 Action Cards and 66 Mission Cards.

The Cursed Empire Card Game

Quickstart Rules

A Quick Intro

So, you are keen to get on with playing Heroes Of Thargos. Good choice! It's an excellent immersive game with many intricacies that will become apparent as you get into deeper gameplay. As you develop a better understanding of the red card Characters and their attributes, the gold Mission Cards, the blue Lasting Cards and finally the green Action Cards you will grow to understand that no two games are the same, and you will learn how the interaction of each attribute on each card integrally affects the game as it progresses.

Enough waffle, let's get to some basics that will get you set up and ready to go – at least on a simple level that you can build upon as you gain more familiarity with how things are. We will look at the two-player mode here only in these quick-start rules. For solo, story and multiplayer modes you will need to dig into the full rules.

Sorting Out the Cards

You've opened the box – that's a great start!

In it you will find 210 colour-coded & design-coded cards including colour-blind friendly indicators, being these icons in the centres:

As we said earlier, red are Character Cards, so sort these all out and set these aside in a separate pile. That will leave you with the gold Mission Cards, the blue Lasting Cards and the green Action Cards. There are a few other cards within these colours that need taking out at this stage, as your cards include the expansion pack that is used for other gameplay modes. Yes, there's loads that you can do with the full set of cards that you have and real depth to gameplay that you will find described in the full rules, but these are not needed in this two-player mode we are running you quickly through here. So, look through the gold Mission Cards and you will find 17 cards that have sepia images of buildings, ramparts, dwellings and similar (see here – "A Hero's Rest in Condar" as an example).

These should be set aside and not be used in this game. There is one gold Mission Card that has a full colour picture of towers and is labelled "Gain Access to City of Condar" – remove this also. Likewise, there are 7 green Action Cards with similar sepia images to those described earlier i.e. of buildings, ramparts etc. Take these out and set aside, as before. Finally, there are 2 blue Lasting Cards with the Condar city map in sepia shown, titled "Condar Citizen", take these out and pop them with the others already discarded. That should be 27 cards you have just set aside but if you've missed any it's not a show-stopper as you can swap these out in gameplay, but better to try and get all out now, that said.

Now is a good time to flick through a few of these to get an idea of what sort of things are written on them – but as you get to know the game better you will become familiar through gameplay with what's on them and how they can be used to best effect.

Next, you need to ensure that each player gets a good balance of Mission, Lasting and Action Cards within their final Battledeck so sort out 20 of each colour for each player, noting that there are duplicates of some so these should be shared between each player accordingly. In short, the 60-card Battle Deck should be made up of 20 of each colour, balanced for duplicates, then well shuffled, split, shuffle again – you know the routine.

Set aside the balance of the cards – these will have no further use in this game.

Now take a look through all of the Characters – the red cards as we've said. Note also that the cards are double-sided – the reverse is the Injured side that we will come to later. You must choose 4 Characters that you will use to play with. If you look in the top right corners you will see the "value" of the Character. We will come back to this in a moment. Along the bottom there are red, green and blue values which we like to call Might (red), Mind (green) and Mysticism (blue) – in short, you can consider these as strength, intelligence and magical ability, respectively. You will also see a correlation between the top right number and these three values in that the bigger the value top-right, the stronger the attributes below will be. So, back to the value in the top right.

It's important, as to win the game, you must total the numbers on your four red Character Cards and that's the total of points you must win by successfully completing missions during gameplay. Logically, you may choose 4 very powerful Characters with strong attributes, but to win, you will then need to earn a correspondingly higher number of mission points than an opponent who chooses 4 weaker Characters. It's a balancing act and you will get a better feel for it the more games that you play, and with that, a better understanding of the Character's various attributes.

Take the time now to have a quick look at a few Characters by reading the short narratives that go with each card – you will need to be aware of these during gameplay. Don't worry at this stage about anything else on the card such as Factions – top left – that's covered later in the full rules. Choose your 4 Characters and tot up the total you will need to win. We suggest in these early games that you tot up the total and divide by 2, rounded up – this is then the number that you need.

Example – say your chosen 4 cards have values of 6,7,4,8. So that's 25 for a full game or 25/2 rounded ie 13 for a short game. In this way, the short game will be quicker, and you will get a chance to try more variations earlier which we think is good. It's up to you.

A quick comment here re winning – there is a second way that the game can be won. If your opponent runs out of cards in their Battle Deck (or you do!) to the extent that you (or they) cannot draw at least 1 card, that's it, done, game over, never minding that you (they) may at that moment have more points won than the other player. So, "burning the deck" as we call it, can be a dangerous tactic. Bang, finito, game over!

Moving On

So, you've each chosen your 4 Characters and have a game-win total calculated. You've shuffled the cards well and have each got your 60 card battle decks ready, face down. Time to lay out the game area. You can choose who goes first by the highest 1D6 roll, or even a random draw from the Character pile, the highest value wins. It's important as you get to choose first as you lay out the cards, taking turns, one card at a time (see further on).

You take the top 6 cards from your Battle Deck and see that you have at least 2 gold Mission Cards in your hand of 6. If you don't have 2, pop the whole 6 back on the bottom of your Battle Deck and keep drawing 6 until you do. (Quick note – there are some rare Character Cards that only allow you to have 5 cards in your hand or may even allow more during gameplay – it's up to you to follow what's written on your Character Cards. Where there are two different options between two Character Cards, you can choose what suits you best - but here we will assume it is 6 for a starting hand). So, you should now both be sat holding 6 cards of which at least 2 are Mission Cards.

Here's a quick pic of how the playing area should be set out after you have followed the instructions below. Note that logically you will rotate the Character Cards to face each player, not as per below.

First player lays a Character Card Injured side down in one track (there are four tracks and generally you will be fighting for missions within these tracks – ie you will be fighting or defending the Character directly opposite for the Mission Card that sits in between). The opponent places their Character Card – and they are not obliged to put it in the same track as yours but may decide, looking at their stats, to do so. You then place your second card, they do the same, and so on until all are placed.

Now place a Mission Card in a track (again, look at the attributes of the Characters within that track, and look at the mission value as this is how you earn points towards your winning total, and see what benefits there are within the text of the Mission Card – winning or losing some of these can change a winning game into a losing one for you, and vice-versa). Repeat alternately until all 4 mission slots are filled. Now you know why you needed at least 2 Mission Cards in your first hand. Pop the Battle Deck in its place and basically speaking, you are all set and good to go!

Right, you were the highest and started first on the layout so here you start actual gameplay first. You both pick two cards off the top of your blind battle decks to replace the Mission Cards placed, so you are both back up to 6 in your hands.

Time to Play!

Now's the time to mention that some of the rarer Characters do not have fixed attributes but rely upon the roll of three D6 to fix the values for the gameplay round in question. The "Jethreki Abomination", for example, is a pretty horrific creature to meet on a dark street at any time, but its attributes can range from the meek and mild to absolute carnage on the throw of the three D6 dice – there is an element of luck, good or bad in this. So, three coloured D6 – logically red, green and blue, would be good to have in hand at this stage.

These dice are also useful to keep track of Modifier Card placement later, in that, for example, if you modify the blue attribute, you can pop a blue dice on that card to indicate it's affecting blue. Not essential and tokens would do – don't get too bogged down with this now as we will describe modifiers later.

Look at your Characters, look at the missions they are facing, and have a peek at your opponent's Characters (yes, that's allowed, including the Injured side) to get an idea of what track you may decide to have a crack at. Look in your hand and see if you have any blue Lasting cards – if yes, read what they say as now is the time to play them – only 1 per round (Unless you have a Character that does otherwise). These Lasting Cards can be added to individual Character Cards to modify the attributes or add benefits to your gameplay – take a look at a few and read what they say to get a better idea of what we mean. If you have any green Action Cards in your hand also have a read of these to get an idea of what they say, but the difference between blue and green is that if you play a green Action Card, its actions apply immediately and that's the end of your round, whereas the blue Lasting Cards, unsurprisingly, last! In other words, you can play a blue Lasting Card and then continue to carry out a mission, with the blue Lasting Card staying with your Character from round to round – or until perhaps it expires or is changed by another card played by your opponent later – read what the Lasting Card says to know more how to handle each one.

Here's a Turn Recap to help - and remember that this happens on your turn ONLY:

You draw cards up to the full hand size (no less) taking into consideration that the default is 6 cards (but remember as we've said, some Characters can change this).
Add 1 Lasting Card to a Character (unless a Character allows you to place more).
Play an Action Card OR Attempt a Mission Card (this is considered an action too).
Check your Victory Point score to see if you have won the game, track it using the marker in the box insert or any other way you wish.

You can find this dial at the bottom of your box.

Let's give an example of a game turn, and here we assume it is you playing, not your opponent at this stage. Here we will assume you have chosen to play a blue Lasting Card on one of your Characters (tuck it underneath your Character Card whilst leaving the 3 core attributes visible), you have decided to have a crack at a mission (you've read the mission text and like what you read, the Mission Card is worth 3 Victory Points (VP) in this case towards your total and you want those 3 points plus the in-game effects are also good) so here goes. You look at your Character's attributes – remember the red, green and blue of Might, Mind and Mysticism at the bottom? – compare these with those of your opponent's Character on the opposite track PLUS any shown on the Mission Card of the respective colours (see the next paragraph about the Mission Card attribute being the one that actually matters) and keep in mind that as the aggressor you must either match or beat each attribute – a draw is enough to win – and that the defender takes the Mission Card attribute/s added to theirs.

Hold on, it's not over yet. Here's where there's a nice twist to things. You've decided to go for a mission, but you feel that you are short, let us say, in blue – Mysticism. Now you can use the cards in your hand as modifiers to increase any areas where you feel short – so for example, using the number in the top right of each of the cards in your hand you can add to the values openly in gameplay by placing a card, or cards, face down and saying that these modify the red, or the green, or the blue attributes you are using. You MUST assign them like this – you cannot choose afterwards. When using these cards as blind modifiers the actual colour of the cards becomes unimportant – it's just the value that matters.

Right, you've set up your attack as we described in the last paragraph, and now your opponent needs to defend, if they choose to do so. They may decide to let you have it and do nil to defend. Your opponent tots up the values that they have for each attribute with the Mission Card attributes (and here, keep in mind it's only the colours shown on the Mission Card that matter – for example, if there's only blue – Mysticism – on a Mission Card then red and green values in either the attacker's or defender's hands are irrelevant), they look at the number of modifier cards you may have placed face down and they too can now place modifiers in the same way as you, perhaps trying to second-guess what they think you may have played. Note - You will see "PAM" mentioned in the main rules, which stands for "Played As a Modifier", so now you will understand what that means when you come across it later. Now both sides open their modifiers, if any, total up for each relevant colour attribute in play, and if the defender has bettered yours in the relevant colour or colours, they have successfully defended your attack. Note that the attacker must beat or draw in every relevant Mission Card attribute colour (and Mission Cards may have 1, 2 or 3 attributes).

If the attack is successful – you take the Mission Card, action what it says on the mission, and the victory points are added to your total towards winning. The used modifier cards of each player are placed in the respective discard piles.

If the attack was defended, you flip your Character Card over onto the back – where you will see it has an "Injured" side with a whole new set of attributes and perhaps a different narrative. It will remain Injured unless another card can be played to change it back again – this may be a Lasting Card – keep a close eye on what cards do what to see if this opportunity comes up. That's the end of the attacker's round – who will also be sat with a depleted hand depending on how many modifier cards were sacrificed. Keep in mind how this works in gameplay – you will have fewer cards left with which to defend when it's your turn to do so if you go heavy on the modifiers during your attack round. In the base game, getting Injured on top of already being Injured has no further effect. This is not the case for the Undead Expansion…

Going back to a successful attack. The Mission Card will have been removed, so it must be replaced, and the player who did not successfully defend the attack must do this. They can choose from any Mission Cards they already have within their hand to replace this missing mission, or if they don't have any, they must draw from their deck until they turn over a Mission Card, burning and discarding their deck as they go, which is then placed into play. They then draw further cards until their hand is up to its full 6 card strength.

Now the roles reverse. They become the attacker, if they choose to do so, instead of playing an Action Card for example, and you become the defender, albeit perhaps with a depleted hand.

Going back to the comment re "burning decks" – you can imagine that players who choose to defend or attack strongly with many modifiers every round, will rapidly burn through their decks, as will players who fail to defend and must replace the missing Mission Card yet are unlucky enough either not to already hold one or to turn one up quickly. And so. the game continues, round by round, until decks are burned, or victory point totals achieved…

A note on multi-attribute Mission Cards:

As the attacker you saw that you must either match or better the total of the defenders plus Mission Card attributes on each attribute shown on the Mission Card, we need to ensure that the defender cannot just stack their PAM cards on one attribute and therefore make it virtually impossible for the attacker to succeed. To do this, we handle such scenarios as follows.

Let us assume there are two attributes on the Mission Card. As the attacker, you have chosen to beef up the attributes of your Character that is attempting to win the mission, and as discussed, you do that with PAM cards. So, you place, let us say, one PAM card for the first attribute, and two PAM cards for the other attribute. Now the defender cannot just pile up their PAM cards on the one attribute thereby killing your attack. Firstly, the defender can only put PAM card or cards on attributes where the attacker has put PAM cards. This means, for example, if the attacker can see that they have already matched or beaten the total of one of the defender's and Mission Card's attributes they have already succeeded on that specific attribute and need not waste any PAM cards there.

The defender must balance their PAM card spread within two cards up or down of the attacker for each attribute. As an example, where the attacker has placed 2, the defender can place 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 cards.

This should give you enough to get started but we cannot stress enough, get familiar with Character attributes, and have a good idea of what blue Lasting Cards can do, as with green Action Cards. As you get more familiar you can fine-tune your gameplay skills, you can build battle decks, choose combinations of Characters and factions to your advantage, and further delve into the fascinating gaming world that is Thargos.

Enjoy!

Deck Construction

A Battledeck consists of a total of 64 cards: 4 Character Cards and any combination of 60 Mission, Lasting and Action Cards. As we recommended in the Quickstart rules, you can start constructing your decks with 20 Lasting, 20 Action and 20 Missions cards but as you get deeper into deck construction you may decide to change this.

Although the number of cards is fixed, there are a handful of rules in place when you are constructing your own specific deck.

Character Cards are always unique, and you may only ever include one copy of any identical Character Card in your team. This also includes different card versions of the same Character with the same name. For example, if you already have "Raskor, Celestia's Champion" you may not include "Raskor, Monster Slayer" in your team as well.

The other types of cards that make up the remaining 60 cards of the Battledeck are limited in number as well. Each deck may contain up to one copy of each Unique card (denoted with the padlock symbol) and up to 4 identical copies of any other card in their deck. This enables players to build a variety of decks whilst limiting certain more powerful unique cards.

Preconstructed Decks: These lists have been put together to start playing constructed decks out of the box as opposed to random ones, which we like too. You can find these here: https://www.cursedempire.com/resources

A great way to start constructing your own is to play a few games with the preconstructed lists then start swapping out cards and testing the Battle Deck.

Some tips to determine the kind of tactics you wish to play: for example, constructing a powerful Imperial Deck could have these 4 Characters: Sir Conrad (Imperial General, 11), Jaymy Imperial Tracker (8), Imperial Healer (5) and Krisoss the Blade of Condar (9).

With the Imperial Tracker, Imperial General, Imperial Healer and The Crimson Knight. This party gives you the capability to hit hard on physical (Might) related missions, plus spying capabilities to impact some of the bluff effects of PAM, as well as a healer for the Party. It is a solid and rather costly party at 34 points requiring 34VP (or 17 for Rapid Play).

The second party are the sworn enemy of the first:

Evil Darkuns with a very hard hitting and hard to Injure leading Pure Darkun and the other three with useful sneaky in game effects. All 4 are versatile fighters/assassins. This is a 32 Point so 32VP (or 16 Rapid play) meaning that the two parties are evenly matched.

Then you can see a great pairing in the 3rd image with Krisoss and Tebezil, where Tebezil offsets Krisoss's weakness of a 5-card hand only vs the default 6.

Spinocanth Strike is a pretty brutal card and is limited to one per deck (exceptionally though we put two in the Core set so in a 2-player game, each player can have this card). "Makden Warrior Scout" is a lower-powered and less rare creature so, you can have up to 4 in your deck.

Finally, two examples of good Character/Lasting Card pairings (sometimes there are clues in the art). The She-Wolf of Black Forest is paired with a Dred Wolf companion, and Jaymy Imperial Tracker with the Ginger Familiar.

as well as a solid 3 Lasting Card combo where the combination of the Earth Elemental and a Guardian Card gives you an extra Might +1 nudge (See Earth Elemental effects). Having 2 Guardians in your deck increases the chance of this occurring.

Deck Construction focus on Action and Mission Cards.

Ok so you have chosen your Hero Party and Lasting Cards that go best with them, now we will focus on what Mission and Action Cards to add to your Battledeck.

Mission Cards ideally should be aligned with your strongest attributes even though your opponent may claim them too. If you want to go deep, look at their effects to see if their impact suits your tactics or gaming style.

In the example below both parties are strong Might contenders so the Mission Card examples would suit most Heroes on both sides. It's always good to have low to high VP values so that you have a mix of big wins plus some easier to fulfil missions in your Battledeck. 'Burn Enemy City' is a prime example at 4VP of a high-value card.

The example Darkun party is Tabaragg Scorpion Darkun Vandoth (8), Vandross Cobra Darkun Warrior (7), Sordven-Zass Spider Darkun Slayer (7) and Karteg Pure Darkun Slayer (10). Mission examples printed alongside the parties:

Intimidate Vartegynn (+2): "Fulfil to force defender to discard 2 cards of their choice."
Survive Jethreki Horde Attack (+1): "Fulfil to remove all Lasting Cards attached to a single Character Card in play."
Successful Scare Tactics (+3): "Fulfil to send a Lasting Card back to its owner's hand."
Burn Enemy City (+4): "Fulfil to force defender to discard their entire hand." It is a prime example at 4VP of a high-value card.

Action Cards: 2 examples here. The first one is for both an offensive and defensive build-up. Using 'Play on Track' Action Cards means that these sit on a Track (or Character in Story Mode) until they are activated. The 'Graxx Gryphon Ambush' is a prime example, adding +3 PAM for 3 times in the game to any one stat per conflict. A very handy card indeed.

The second relates to a gaming tactic of attrition: burning your adversary Battledeck with creature raids: 'Cyclops of Slavit', 'Troll' and a 'Darkun Death Commando'. The Darkun Death Commando Raid (+3) reads: "Opponent immediately discards 3 cards from the top of their deck."

The second optional rule relates to a points-build deck or not. You can decide to simply build your deck with no points-build limitations or all players agree to the same points. All cards (except Hero Character ones) have the Played as Modifier (PAM) figure in the top right-hand corner (normally ranging from 1-3 but the Core Set has a few 4's). A weaker deck build of 60 cards would be a 60-point build, an average one would be a 120-point build and a powerful deck would be a 180-point build or anywhere in between. Tournament Play should use points-build options to level the playing field.

As we have said before, in normal deck construction, it's recommended to have 20 Lasting (Blue Booster Cards), 20 Mission (Gold Quest Cards) and 20 Action (Green cards). Tournament play would normally have this rule and this split allows for a healthy balance of gameplay options, but ultimately you can also do exactly as you wish and try different things out. A note of friendly caution though, a low Mission Card count can burn through your deck very fast if you can't replace Mission Cards in play won by your opponent in the Vs and Solo Modes...

Campaign Mode: if you wish to experience this way to play which gives you a real feel for the story of the Thargos setting (based on the Cursed Empire RPG), you will have some restrictions. Take for example the Imperial City of Condar Expansion (The Sepia tone cards you removed from the Quickstart game) you get with the Core Set: some cards cannot be played within the city walls. For those of you familiar with RPG-type Encounter Tables, we will release as the Campaign unfolds, such limitations on creatures etc. also some Hero Character Card combinations cannot be used together. Out of the Core Set, you cannot in Campaign Mode have any Darkuns with Imperial Characters. We will provide more information on this here: https://www.cursedempire.com/resources

"Don't forget to take your crampons! The Rarlonn Ice Pass is almost unpassable even with the best possible preparation, but it will save us at least three weeks travel if we make it." — Vindikass Mentass, Imperial Archer of Condar

Anatomy of Cards

Common to All Cards

The card anatomy diagram labels the following on every card:

Title: Name of the card.
Padlock: Yes (Unique Card: only one allowed per deck). No (up to four cards in a constructed deck).
Unique Identifier reference: C (Character), L (Lasting), A (Action), M (Mission), followed by a number.
Card type indicator: Lasting Card, Action Card, Character Card, and Mission Card (the Mission Card indicator shows its Victory Points).

Character Cards

Character Cards are the only cards in the game deck that are not shuffled or randomized during gameplay. Four of these cards are chosen as the deck's Hero Party and are placed in the four Mission Tracks before the first turn takes place. Character Cards have two sides with important information on them: a Ready side and an Injured side.

Both sides of these cards have pieces of information integral to gameplay printed on them:

Faction (A): Some Character Cards will have a Faction symbol listed upon them for use as a prerequisite to certain Mission, Action and Lasting Cards. In the Core Set, only Lasting Cards have these in addition to the Character Cards, and they can be played as an optional rule (see Optional Rules). The Faction symbols shown are: Imperial, Air Cult, Black Falcons, Renegade, Tyra Watch, Spider, Horned Order of Krill, Cobra, Nunnorian Compact, Pure, Eclipse, Lifters, Wolf, Black Hand and Scorpion.
Character Points (B): Every Character Card has a listed Character Point Value (CPV) normally ranging from 3 to 12 used to calculate the Victory Points needed to win for each deck.
In Game Effects (C): Character Cards have something unique or special to them listed in this section, explaining whatever the effects of that would be.
Might (D): A numerical value for how strong, tough or physically powerful the Character is. This value normally ranges from 1 to 4. Might is listed in red to match with other Might-only modifiers on other cards.
Mind (E): A numerical value for how clever, intelligent or aptly trained the Character is. This value normally ranges from 1 to 4. Mind is listed in green to match with other Mind-only modifiers on other cards.
Mysticism (F): A numerical value (Attribute) capturing a combination of how well-versed the Character is in magic, religion, pagan teachings, rites and knowledge of myths. This value normally ranges from 1 to 4. Mysticism is listed in blue to match with other Mysticism-only modifiers on other cards.

Injured Character Cards

Character Cards also have an Injured side, which you reveal when you flip it over. This then reveals new values and in game effects that replace those from the Ready side, becoming effective immediately. Multi-use Character powers do not get reset.

The counter still goes down. However, you cannot activate the power if on the reverse side so indeed being "Ready" or "Injured" has an impact on gameplay.

Common to All Battledeck Cards

Played-As-Modifier (PAM): Every Card has a value: these are always located on the top right and can be played from your hand face down to modify one of your Character's attributes during any action in which they are a part of, (no matter who started the action). This value normally ranges from 1 to 3 points with some rare 4-point value cards. It is only relevant when played as an action modifier. This also introduces an element of bluff in the game as we saw in the Quickstart Rules.

Mission Cards

Mission Cards are the only way for you to acquire Victory Points during a game (except for some very rare cases like the Higher Purpose Action Card). Mission Cards have four important pieces of information printed on them:

PAM (A): The value of the card, found in the top right, used when the card is played as a modifier.
Victory Points (B): Every Mission Card lists the Victory Points it gives the player once the mission is fulfilled. This value normally ranges from 1 to 4 points. In the example, the 1 within the centre means that completing this Mission Card awards 1 VP.
In-Game Effects (C): Mission Cards have in-game effects that are triggered immediately and before any other actions occur including when the defender must replace the vacant Mission Card slot when they are fulfilled.
Mission Requirements (D): Every Mission Card has at least one listed attribute value that gets added to the Defending Character Card attributes in the same Mission Track. This value is listed as a positive number attached to one of the three Character Card attribute values, such as Might, Mind +1 (example: Escort Injured to Elios Water Temple), or Mysticism. In the example, escorting Injured individuals will require some skill and careful planning to not worsen their condition (hence the importance of the Mind attribute). Elios is renowned for its Houses of Healing at the Elios Water Temple.

Some Mission Cards have multiple Attribute values to add (up to three). This requires that your challenging Character needs to win across all of them to fulfil the mission.

Lasting Cards

Lasting Cards represent minions, equipment, special weapons, skills & powers as well as other facets of a Character's mission team. Lasting Cards are cards that can be used to add necessary modifiers to a Character Card. They are elements that add to a Character Card's utility, making them more efficient at fulfilling Mission Cards or stopping opponents from doing so. When played from your hand they are placed under a Character Card, creating a column of modifying cards in that Mission Track. Lasting Cards have four important pieces of information on them:

Faction (A): Some Lasting Cards will have one or more Faction Symbols in the top left corner (Horned Order of Krill in this case). If so, this means that this Lasting Card will only attach itself to a Character bearing the same Faction Symbol if the Faction optional Rule is being used (See Optional Rules).
PAM (B): The Played As Modifier value, found in the top right corner.
In-Game Effects (C): Some Lasting Cards may have special in game-effects that take place when they are attached to a Character Card.
Character Modifiers (D): Every Lasting Card has several modifiers to the Might, Mind and/or Mysticism value of the Character Card to which they are attached. These modifiers are mainly listed as bonuses, but some Lasting Cards might also bear penalties as well to balance out their benefits. Modifiers listed in a specific colour of the text can only be used to modify the attached Character Card's relevant values (Might, Mind or Mysticism).

Action Cards

Action Cards are the surprise elements of the Heroes of Thargos game. They are played out of your hand and instead of trying to accomplish a Mission Card, they have a variety of specific and interesting effects on the game. Action Cards generally have only two pieces of information upon them (for example the Ghoul above also has attribute penalties).

PAM (A): The Played As Modifier value, found in the top right corner.
Action Specifics (B): Every Action Card has a special benefit or game-altering ability that takes place when it is played out of your hand. These special actions vary greatly.
Attribute Modifiers (C): The specified modifiers may only be used to modify the relevant values of the associated Hero Card.

Optional Rules

3 or More Players Gameplay

The Track System can easily be played as a head-to-head 2-player game: a simple race to their Victory Point goal. However, the grammar on the cards themselves is written open-endedly to make room for games with 3 or more players involved. This only requires a few tweaks to how cards are laid onto the table and a slight change to the order of gameplay.

Before the game begins, once you have a valid starting hand, the first player chooses one of the four competing Mission Tracks (see diagram) to place a Character Card. Each pair of players competes on four Mission Tracks. The second player then chooses a Mission Track to place a Character Card. This continues in turn until all players have placed a single Character Card on all four of their Mission Tracks. The normal two player setup process continues if there is a third player and so on. Mission Tracks each comprise a single Mission Card that both opposing players have a single Character competing to fulfil. Two players compete on 4 Mission Tracks, three players compete on 6 Mission Tracks, four players compete on 8 and so on.

Starting with the last player to place a Character Card and moving in reverse order, put a Mission Card between opposing Character Cards on a currently empty Mission Track. The process of placing Mission Cards continues until all Mission Tracks are filled.

For any Track System game of 3 or more players, the players arrange themselves into a circle instead of sitting across from each other. Each player separates their four Mission Tracks into two sets of two Mission Tracks – one set facing the player on their left, the other set facing the player on the right. This means no matter how many players are involved in the game, there will be two Mission Tracks shared by each player with the players next to them.

During a multiplayer game, Character Cards and Mission Cards can only be played into that player's four Mission Tracks.

Changes to how the game plays in a multiplayer game with 3 or more players are as follows:

Determining the first player is the total Played-As-Modifier Values of 3 randomly drawn cards instead of one to hopefully reduce the chance of tied amounts. The second player is the player sitting to the left of the first player; the third player is on that player's left, and so on. The order of game turns are taken in numerical order (First, second, third, etc.)

While Character Cards and Mission Cards will only ever occupy the four Mission Tracks attached to each player, Action Cards are worded specifically and could possibly target/affect any relevant target in the match.

Mission Card Multi-Attribute Variant

Firstly, the defender can only put PAM cards on attributes where the attacker has put them too. This means, for example, if the attacker can see that they have already matched or beaten the total of one of the defender's and Mission Card's attributes they have already succeeded on that specific attribute and need not waste any PAM cards there. The defender must balance their PAM cards for a maximum of two cards up of the attacker for each attribute. As an example, where the attacker has placed 2, the defender can place 3 or 4 cards maximum.

Rapid Play Rule

When constructing the Battledeck Character Party, instead of taking the full Character Point Value (CPV) of your 4 Characters to determine the number of Victory Points (VP) to win the game, each player divides this number by 2 rounded up.

Last-Ditch Rule

Instead of the game immediately ending when a player cannot draw at least 1 card from their Battledeck there is an option to play out one final round using what cards are left in hand and if that does not immediately, within this turn, bring you victory, then you lose. Whether to use this rule or not should be agreed upon at the start of the game.

Factions

The Faction rule means that only Lasting Cards from the same faction can be added to a Character Card of the same Faction. This toughens the deployment of Lasting Cards considerably and means that more of those cards will be played as modifiers instead. Characters with an R (Renegade) symbol in the top left of the card can use any Lasting Cards in those games as in standard play.

Undead Expansion

Injuring an opposing Character: If your Character is already Injured and they have no Lasting Cards attached, your Undead opponent takes the card as your Character has turned Undead. They can replace it for one of theirs in play, but all Lasting Cards attached are discarded. You then have the option to move another adjacent Character to the vacant Track and back multiple times as required to attempt to fulfil or defend missions. Note that each injury to the Character removes 1 Lasting Card attached until they are exposed to a final injury so it is wise to get Lasting Cards out as soon as you can to build lines of defence.

"We will drive them to the far reaches of their Empire because we despise them. These vestiges of lost values, these arrogant people who question our right to exist." — Gabaragg Dar, Darkun of the Hydra Faction

Story Mode

The Story Mode introduces a different type of gaming experience for the Heroes of Thargos Card Game. The notion of Tracks no longer applies. The main goal is to experience adventures down to street level close to a roleplaying session or dungeon crawl type game. Indeed, the Core Set comes complete with a host of cards that give players enough cards to construct their first decks and get a feel for the setting by attempting missions all over the main Continent area, facing minions and creatures from the broad bestiary and competing with a broad selection of representative Characters from all over the setting. Many of these cards will also be used by the Story Mode and expansions will bring in additional detailed Mission Cards for Story Mode play, Action Cards and new Lasting Cards around a specific location and theme. The Core Set is ideal for constructing decks and testing combinations. Some variants of this can be played as collaborative play as a party of players which we will cover further on.

A Story will have a dedicated Deck Build list with exclusions and dedicated rules explained per Story. For example, some Action Cards that feature certain creatures cannot be played as an Action Card but only as a Played As Modifier Card as the creatures would not be found where the story takes place. All cards are numbered in the bottom right corner with the M, L, A and C prefixes for Mission, Lasting, Action and Character Cards respectively which are used to construct the Story Mode decks and identify exclusions and specific Mission Cards.

Story Mode means that some Mission Cards can be completed in any order, others must be linear in order of completion or a mix of both the above, and others unlock secret Mission Cards and potentially lock out competing players for subsequent linear Mission Cards.

Setup

There is no Mission setup phase or laying down in tracks of the Character Cards as per the Normal Play Mode. All the Mission Cards are laid down based on their locations on the Story Mode Map or on your game table. In our example below, the Mission Cards and Character Cards are laid in front of each player. Some Mission Cards can be face down (Secret Mission Stack) or even sealed during setup.

The example layout diagram labels the following areas: Start Mission; Side Missions Stack; Secret Missions Stack; Thargos Pushback Dice; Set up 28 VP Story Path + Side/Secret Missions; and "What happens next? You decide!"

Each player constructs a 60 card Battledeck (20 Mission Cards, 20 Action Cards & 20 Lasting Cards) + ideally 3 Red, 3 Green and 3 Blue D6 per player (AI).

Note: use miniatures/markers to indicate the locations of party members.

The starting order of the game is the same as the Normal Play Mode where each player draws a card and compares the Played as Modifier values.

Winning the Game still requires the right number of Victory Points (VP) and the first Party to reach these wins.

Choose Location (Optional from the Campaign Map).
Lay out Mission Cards in front of you to design your Story with each card having a unique MXX number in the bottom right… you can write these down so you can share them with other players.
Some subplots and side-quests are linear in nature, others can be completed in any order, others unlock hidden Missions potentially (face down and randomised) etc.
Determine "Path" that connects Missions: ensure that the total Victory Point (VP) value of the Story is enough for all players to have a chance to win based on their Party Character Point total and whatever path they choose to take. Side Missions are like side quests that can be completed at any moment and stay in play until all Players have won them. Side and Secret Missions are used to top up Victory Points (VP).

Battledeck Mission Cards only count as Played as Modifier resource as all the Mission Cards required for play are already laid out as part of the setup: for the 20 Mission Cards in the Battle Deck, these should not be over 40 points in total in terms of Played as Modifier values.

Lasting Cards are used as normal unless specified in the Story. Some items, minions etc. will not be available in certain regions if you play in the Thargos Setting.

Action Cards can be used with restrictions based on scenario locations (or you can do your own thing if you wish). The list will depend on creature type: for example, some can be used in wilderness scenarios only otherwise they should be Played as a Modifier only. Wilderness scenarios require the full party unless otherwise specified. Definition: wilderness scenarios are any scenarios outside the city in Story Mode.

Gameplay: Each time there is an active mission being attempted by a player, an opposing player may decide if they wish to foil the mission (excluding Passive Missions – see below). They must choose which Character (Or Party if a special Party Mission) they will use to counter and normal rules apply of adding Played as Modifier cards and adding Lasting Cards in play. If the opposing player does not wish to intervene, at the very least they get to roll 1d6, 2d6 or up to all 3d6 of the coloured dice that are then Played as Modifiers and added to the difficulty level of the Mission Card in play. To know how many to roll, use the stat bonus on the card: Mind at +2 means 2 green d6 added together +2 from the card.

Example: Locate Beast Lair (M16), which reads "Fulfil to send a Lasting Card in play back to its owner's hand." and carries the flavour text "Tales of beast lairs would send most running for the hills. Only idiots and would-be heroes would seek them out."

Know how many to roll, use the stat bonus on the card: Mind at +2 means 2 green d6 added together +2 from the card. The lead Character attempting to fulfil this mission benefits from the stack of Lasting Cards they have in play plus any PAM Cards they wish to add.

Any opposing Player can counter this with one of theirs. If no opposing players wish to use their Characters to foil the attempt on this mission, then The Thargos Pushback rule is used which means they can at least roll 1 red d6 +1. Compare the result with the Character stack to see the outcome.

Some Mission Cards are de-facto "Passive" which means that they automatically call the die roll and no counter Character challenge as Thargos is pushing back instead.

Another example: Scatter Your Foes (M20): "Fulfil to pick up your opponent's Character Cards (leaving Lasting Cards in Track) and redistribute them at random into the Mission Tracks." The Lead Character attempting to fulfil this mission also benefits as usual from any Lasting Cards in play stacked against the Character Card.

If no Character opposes this, then the opposing player still gets to roll 2d6 and 2d6 which then get added to +2 and +2 respectively to determine if the mission is completed or not.

Introductory Story near Kurnor

Kurnor (Great City of). Population: 38,000. Regional population: 19,000+. Resources: Agriculture, furs, bronze and medicinal plants.

Kurnor is an Imperial city gripped by an internal struggle between warring Guilds, it is a hive of activity for thieves and assassins. Kurnor is sometimes likened to a city in Karnarcos, though they seldom stoop to the levels of depravity and chaos of the Darkuns, the warring faction within Kurnor are ruthless and aggressive, taking the war to the streets on occasion.

The city has a comprehensive system of canals, that are used to carry goods and people about the city and were it not for the incessant warring of the Guilds, the canals would be what they were most renowned for.

Story Mode using the Core Set: So, the story starts on the outskirts of the Imperial City of Kurnor…. The party of adventurers are tasked with their first mission, to gather information by Spying on the Kurnor Guilds (M22). Then they can attempt as an option, to Hunt Down a Darkwolf after Locating its Lair (M16 + M10) that has been killing off remote farmers and their families for some time or set up a Successful Racket (M23) in the area, in either order but M23 must be completed before moving on to M21 or M29 below. The racketeering has unexpectedly given them some clues relating to valuable information and a defunct Mage's secret stash of artefacts and gold, which lead them to the outskirts of the ruined ancient city of Metbetoch where they attempt to Uncover Metbetoch Secrets (M29) or Uncover a Secret Stash (M21) both in any order. M29 must be completed before moving on to Scare Tactics (M24). The Party of adventurers is planning to Scatter their Foes (M20), a dangerous border clan of Barbarians aligned with the evil forces in the South (Karnarcos), but first they want to intimidate them through M24.

After successfully Scattering Your Foes, you are now able to Infiltrate an Enemy Settlement (M11). Information gathered there gives you a route to Locate the Secret Door of Rund (M17) but you must cross the ancient and treacherous forest of Rund where you either take a path where a Melok (an evil undead life-draining spirit) attacks your Party (M3) or your camp is raided by a Jethreki Horde (M26). Overcoming either of these missions takes you to M17 and a turning point in the Story… You can simply add more cards to continue adventuring… and you can also tap into the Side Missions Stack in any Turn to top up your VP's.

Story Mode Cards (Kurnor Introductory Story)

The Mission Cards used in this story, as printed (top-right value is the PAM value; attribute icons on the card art are not transcribed here):

Card	PAM	Effect (as printed)
Spying on Kurnor Guilds (M22)	+1	Fulfil to retrieve any Lasting Card from your Discard pile and attach it to the successful Character Card.
Successful Kurnor Racket (M23)	+1	Fulfil to immediately flip any Character Card to its Injured side.
Uncover Metbetoch Secrets (M29)	+1	Fulfil to force defender to discard 1 card from their hand, chosen at random.
Secret Stash Uncovered (M21)	+2	Fulfil to immediately draw 3 cards, keep 2 and put the last on the bottom of your deck.
Locate Beast Lair (M16)	+2	Fulfil to send a Lasting Card in play back to its owner's hand.
Locate the Secret Door to Rund (M17)	+2	Fulfil to force opponent to show you their current hand of cards.
Infiltrate Enemy Settlement (M11)	+3

The Action Cards that can be played in this Story from the Core Set (if you follow the Thargos Setting, otherwise whichever ones you want in your Story):

Card	PAM	Effect (as printed)
Berserker Attack (A1)	+1	The bottom card of your Discard pile is placed on the top of your deck.
Kadrur Battle Cry (A9)	+2	You may play a Lasting Card from your hand immediately.
Ourak Attack (A17)	+3	One Mission Card and one Lasting Card of your choice on the same track is removed from the game (not discarded). The Mission Card cannot be fulfilled.
Troll Raid on Camp (A23)	+2	Opponent immediately discards 2.
Warrior-Sorcerer (A26)	+1	Move a Lasting Card from one of your Character Cards to another of your Character Cards.
Treasure Trove Find (A22)	+1	Player draws 1 to 3 cards immediately from their Deck.
Sleight of Hand (A19)	+1	Draw up to your hand size and up to +3 cards (your choice).

Then add more cards of your choice to continue your story. Further story material and sharing is available at https://www.cursedempire.com/resources

Solo Mode

Requirements:

2 Battle Decks built up from a core set
3 Dice (or 1 Dice and 2 markers: e.g the inside of your game box is an option too)

The Track System can be played as a Solo Play Mode, based on the standard Head-to-Head game, with yourself, the Player as the leader of a team of heroes determined to earn a fearsome reputation and the opponent, the Rivals representing the various other warlords of against whom you are fighting to gain your fame.

The Player wins, as in the normal game, by earning sufficient VP's. The Player loses if you run out of cards in the Battledeck or if the reputation of your various failures overwhelms the legend of your victories i.e., the Rivals succeed in earning their target VP's.

As the Player, your game runs in general as per the standard Head-to-Head game, your opponent, the Rivals, runs slightly differently. You will need six heroes for them as opposed to four, three six-sided dice (or at least 1 dice and some markers), and a standard battle deck.

Setup

Shuffle both (Player and Rival) Battle Decks and place them in the relevant positions.

Roll for your opponents 'Attitude' - If any effect from the players actions causes the Rivals hand to be discarded in full, the Attitude Marker is rerolled, and the new attitude is noted (you can use the game box tray to track this).

The Attitude Marker represents the current feeling of the rivals towards the efforts of the opposing Characters attempting to carve their name out in the world as well as their approach to gaining their own renown (you can use the game insert here if you wish).

The results of the Attitude will determine how large (or small) the Rivals Attack or Guard Values are:

Aggressive: Attack Cache is four cards and Guard Cache is two cards.
Wary: Attack cache is three cards and Guard Cache is three cards.
Defensive: Attack cache is two cards and Guard Cache is four cards.

The Attitude roll maps as follows: 1-2 = Aggressive (Agressif); 3-4 = Wary (Méfiant); 4-6 = Defensive (Défensif), as printed on the diagram. Note that the printed ranges as shown in the source overlap at 4 (the diagram reads 4-6, 3-4, 1-2 from top to bottom); transcribed as printed.

Set your Rivals Infamy to 0.

The Infamy Marker represents the growing awareness of the Rivals towards the Players' efforts. The Infamy score starts at zero. Whenever the Battledeck of the Rivals is empty, the discard pile is shuffled and becomes a new battle deck. When the Battledeck is reshuffled increase infamy by 1 to a max of 6 (you can use the game insert here if you wish).

Shuffle the Rivals Character Cards and place 1 on a Track. The Player then places their 1st Character and repeats till all 4 tracks are filled with appropriate Character Cards.

Mission Selection. As per Head-to-Head (H2H) for the Player, draw a hand of 6 cards, 2 must be Mission Cards, otherwise follow the process for H2H.

Rival places first Mission Card by drawing a card from their Battle Deck, if it is not a Mission Card then discard it to the Rival's Discard pile. When the 1st Mission is drawn, Randomise its location on the Tracks as per Decision Dice. The Player then places theirs. Repeat until all Tracks are complete.

The Decision Dice and most actions of the Rivals will be determined by the dice. In general, for any roll which is used to determine a track, results of 2-5 indicate a track in order from left to right, 2 being the far left and 5 being the far right. The results of 1 & 6 have in-game special effects.

Gameplay

The Player commences as per the standard Head-to-Head game (Draw Lasting Card, Action/Mission, End).

During the Players game turn, when the Rivals are opposing a mission, they use all cards as signified by their Rivals Attitude from their Guard Cache, plus cards drawn from the Battledeck equal to the current Infamy score.

The Player will place their cards to Fulfil the Mission, the Rivals will draw their value facedown (splitting the piles if required by the mission requirements) and then the success is determined. The cache cards are then discarded.

For the Rivals game turn: There is no draw.

The Play - draw and discard from the Battledeck till a Lasting Card is drawn, then attach it as per the Decision Dice.

As the Player, roll the Decision Dice. On a 1, place the Lasting Card on the Character Card with the lowest modified total of all three abilities. On a 6, place the Lasting Card on the Character Card with the highest modified total of all three abilities. The Rivals only use effects on Lasting Cards which are automatic effects or permanent modifiers. They do not use effects which involve choice or are invoked at a time of their choice.

As the Action, the Rivals will attempt to fulfil a mission. Roll the Decision Dice to choose a track. On a 1, the Rivals have second thoughts and withdraw. On a 6, the Rivals add a card drawn from the Battledeck to the Attack cache and reroll.

When attempting to fulfil the mission, the Rivals use all cards in the Attack Cache plus cards drawn from the Battledeck equal to the current Infamy score (and any additional if they rolled a 6). If the Rivals complete a mission, they score the VP's but will only use effects that are automatic or permanent.

For the Attack draw the cards from the Battledeck for the required value facedown. The Player then places theirs (as per H2H) then determine the success, discarding the rivals drawn cards.

Story Mode Solo

Same Mission Card set up as multi player on the Kurnor Path. Same Deck build with 60 cards.

60 card Battledeck (20 Mission Cards, 20 Action Cards & 20 Lasting Cards) + 3 Red, 3 Green and 3 Blue D6's ideally or at least one of each (Solo Story AI).

Lay out Missions Cards on your game table based on the exact location. They can be stacked in case of a specific order to complete them.

Notes: If you wish a more or less challenging game, apply the following changes:

Reduce both the values for Attack and the Guard by 1 card (less Challenging).
Increase both the Values for Attack and Guard by 1 (more Challenging).
Start with a higher Infamy Score.
All Effects from any card entering play from the Rivals occurs (randomised if needed).

Glossary

Attribute Stack: This is the column of cards in each Track that comprise a Character Card and any Lasting or Action Cards (some can be used on a track for a short-term effect) plus Played As Modifier cards from the hand of the player.

Battle Deck: 64 card player constructed game deck.

Card Types: There are four types of cards in the game – Character Cards (Red Borders), Mission Cards (Gold Borders), Lasting Cards (Blue Borders), and Action Cards (Green Borders). Unless noted otherwise on the card, a deck may only have up to 4 copies of each individual Action Card within your deck. As for Unique Deck Cards you are only permitted to have one card of per Battledeck (with a padlock symbol).

Action Cards are the surprise elements to Track System gameplay. They are played out of your hand instead of trying to accomplish a Mission Card and have a variety of specific and interesting effects upon the game.

Character Cards are the only cards in the game deck that are not shuffled or randomized during gameplay at all. Four of these cards are chosen as the deck's team and are placed in the four Mission Tracks before the first player turn takes place. Unlike other Track related cards, Character Cards have two sides with important information on them: a Ready side and an Injured side. Both sides of these cards have pieces of information integral to gameplay.

Lasting Cards represent minions, equipment, special weapons, skills & powers as well as other facets of a Character's mission team. Unless noted otherwise on the card, a deck may contain only up to 4 copies of each individual Lasting Card within your deck. As for Unique Deck Cards you are only permitted to have one card of per Battledeck (with a padlock symbol).

Mission Cards are the only way for you to acquire Victory Points during a game. It is wise to have a good variety in your deck.

Character Party: Comprises at least 4 Character Cards. Future expansions may add more.

Character Points: Each Character Card has a Character Point Value (CPV) normally ranging from 3 to 10 which is used to calculate the Victory Points needed to win for each Character party.

Faction: One of over 100 Orders, Factions, Cults, Guilds etc. in the world of Thargos that Characters can belong to. Optional rules only allow Lasting Cards from the same Faction to be used.

Injured: The Character has a weakened health status on the reverse of the card.

Might: A numerical value (Attribute) for how strong, tough, or physically powerful the Character is. This value normally ranges from 1 to 4. Might is listed in red to match with other Might-only modifiers on other cards.

Mind: A numerical value (Attribute) for how clever, intelligent or aptly trained the Character is. This value normally ranges from 1 to 4. Mind is listed in green to match with other Mind-only modifiers on other cards.

Mysticism: A numerical value (Attribute) capturing a combination of how well-versed the Character is in magic, religion, pagan teachings, rites and knowledge of myths. This value normally ranges from 1 to 4. Mysticism is listed in blue to match with other Mysticism-only modifiers on other cards.

Played As Modifier (PAM): The value of any non-Character Card that can be used to boost a Character attribute value for the duration of one mission challenge whether defending or trying to fulfil the mission. The Value is found in the top right-hand corner of all Lasting, Action and Mission Cards and they are always played facedown. All cards used this way are then discarded.

Ready: The Character has normal health status on the front of the card.

The Draw: The active player draws up to a normal maximum hand size of 6 cards. Some Character Cards allow you to draw more or less cards. If you cannot draw at least one card from your Battledeck during The Draw, you automatically lose the game under a "Drawn Out" forfeit rule.

Track: A Track is a vertical line of cards comprising a Mission Card in the middle of two opposing Character Cards with their respective Attribute Stacks (Lasting Cards, some Action Cards and Played As Modifier cards).

Unique Deck Cards: Cards that you are only permitted to have one card per Battledeck that are marked with a padlock symbol.

Victory Points (VP): Every Mission Card lists the number of Victory Points it gives the player whose Character succeeds in fulfilling it. This value normally ranges from 1 to 4 points and is in the middle of the card. The active player adds up their total Victory Points at the end of the game turn. If their total Victory Points (all the missions, they have won) are equal to or higher than their Character points total value.