Defense of the Citadel Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Game Setup
  • Choose a Game Mode
  • Scenario Setup
  • Campaign Setup
• 3. Gameflow
  • Preparation
  • The Invasion
• 4. Map Tiles
  • Map Concept
  • Map Movement
  • Range and Line of Sight
  • The Heart
• 5. Player
  • Player Sheet
  • HP & EP
  • Attribute Roll
  • Weapon, Armor and Items
  • Invasion Phase Player Actions
  • Incapacitated
  • When Playing with Less Than 4 Players
• 6. Enemy
  • Enemy Attack

1. Introduction

Defense of the Citadel is a cooperative hero defense board game for 1 to 4 players. In this high fantasy world, you as the hero need to defend the heart of citadel against waves of enemy invasion.

The enemy is after the heart of the Citadel, the divine artifact of the battle goddess. The only thing standing between them is you, the heroes. Defend the Heart at all cost. If it is destroyed the Citadel is lost.

2. Game Setup

Choose a Game Mode

There are two ways to play the game; these are referred to as the 'Scenario' mode and the 'Campaign' mode. The players must first choose which game mode they wish to play.

• Scenario

Estimated play time: 30 ~ 60 minutes per scenario

Predefined settings and last no more than an hour to play, which is perfect when you just want a quick short game. 'Scenario' games are also sequential, connected to each other through a story line.

• Campaign

Estimated play time: 6 ~ 8 hours

'Campaign' on the other hand is the opposite with no particular predefined settings. From just the heart, you expand out the Citadel while charging up the heart. Events are randomized and your performance and decisions through the phases as well as crafted items and wounds will carry over to the next until you reach the final objective. 'Campaign' is meant for a long game, and you may need to record the status of the game to carry on the game on another day.

We recommend that initially players try the Scenario mode to get into and understand the game mechanics.

Scenario Setup

1. Select the Scenario you wish to play.

2. Set out the base map tiles and objective tokens as indicated on the Scenario briefing.

3. Each player selects his/her race to play this Scenario, distribute the character sheets and player character miniatures accordingly.

4. Each player selects the classes to assign to their characters; they may choose up to 2 classes to assign to the player character.

A key part of your strategy is to consider the combination of your classes as a team.

5. Set the turn counter as indicated in the Scenario.

6. Construct the invasion card as indicated in the Scenario, then shuffle the deck.

7. Enter the 'Preparation' stage of the game.

Victory Condition

• Complete the Scenario objective

Defeat Condition

• The heart is destroyed
• All players are incapacitated

Campaign Setup

1. Each player selects his/her race to play this Scenario, distribute the character sheets and player character miniatures accordingly.

2. Remove the knight dragon from the invasion deck.

3. Each player rolls a D6 dice; calculate the sum of all dice roll. Look up the Campaign Event table to see what campaign event occurs. Perform this step 3 times.

4. Compile the invasion deck; take any event occurrence into account.

5. Enter the 'Preparation' Stage of the game.

6. After the Invasion Phase, if you have successfully defended then return to step 3). All conditions of the game are retained (map objects, player life points, player injuries, items used).

Final Victory Condition

• Charge up the heart and defeat the Knight Dragon

Defeat Condition

• The heart is destroyed
• All players are incapacitated

3. Gameflow

There are 2 main stages in the game; these are 'Preparation' and 'Invasion'. The progress of the stage is monitored through the 'turn counter' and 'turn token'.

[Figure: the 'turn counter'. Not transcribed.]

Preparation

During this stage, players can perform a number of actions to prepare for the incoming invasion. What the player can do is indicated in the preparation table, an example of this can be seen below:

Action	Prerequisite	Points	Effect
Rest	None	2	Add a life token. This amount cannot exceed the maximum amount.
Scout	None	4	View the next 3 invasion cards in the deck. Then put them back in the deck in their original order.
Craft Barricade	x1 forge	10	Create a Barricade map object. Place the barricade map object anywhere on the Map.

Construction of the Map

In 'Scenario' mode, for each scenario you will be specified a base set of map tiles to play with. The players can choose what the Citadel should look like. It is also possible to craft additional map tiles to append to the initial sets of Map tiles.

In 'Campaign' mode, you keep a record of the Citadel map tiles from the beginning. You can craft new tile sets and add onto the Citadel, growing it constantly.

[Figure: map tiles structured as the players see fit. Not transcribed.]

Items, Map Objects and Trap Tiles

There are 3 types of objects that the players can craft during 'preparation' stage. These are Items, trap tiles and Map objects.

Items are represented by 'Item cards', these can be either equipment such as weapon and armor, or consumable objects such as potions that can be placed onto the player sheets. Upon completing the craft place it either in a treasure chest or a player character inventory.

Map objects once crafted needs to be placed on one of the squares on the map tile. A Map object occupies 1 space on the square and can be destroyed by enemy units. For more details on map, please see the 'map' section.

Trap tiles once crafted needs to be placed on one of the squares on the map tile. Unlike the map objects they do not occupy space on the tile.

In Campaign Mode

In campaign mode, a special preparation action is available for players.

Action	Prerequisite	Points	Effect
Charge Heart	From 0	20	Increase charge amount of heart by 1

The objective of the campaign mode is to accumulate a charge count of 25. As the charge increases it will also increase the threat level, at 10 charge it increase it to 2 and at 20 it increases it to 3.

Upon charging up to 25, it will trigger the Knight Dragon to be included in the Invasion deck. Defeat the Dragon to win the campaign mode.

The Invasion

Once the preparation stage is over, the invasion begins! Each turn of the invasion stage is further divided into multiple phases.

Setup Phase

As the invasion begins, roll a 2D6, count clockwise from the main entrance through all the entrance points (Ignore the entrance points on the 'C' tile) and place down the spawn point. An entrance point of a tile is indicated by red lines that point outward from the tile into empty space (i.e. not connecting to another tile).

If there are more than one spawn points to place down, repeat the step from the latest spawn point.

[Figure: spawn point tile. Not transcribed. Caption: "Spawn points can be placed on the edge entrances".]

Place the counter marks onto the number of waves and life the Citadel has.

Invasion Phase

Reduce the wave count by 1. There are 2 actions to consider during this phase:

1. For every spawn point draw an invasion 'units' card from the deck.

The above is card is an enemy unit invasion, different type of units will appear based on the 'Threat level'. In Scenario mode the 'Threat level' is specified, where as in the campaign it is determined by the 'charge level' to the heart.

Whenever there are no miniatures of the appropriate type left, each miniature in play of that type gets an additional action.

2. For every odd turn, draw an invasion 'events' card. Perform the action mentioned on the card.

After all invasion cards has been drawn, move the turn counter, pass the first player counter to the next player in order and start from the Player phase again.

Player Phase

The player with the first player token begins performing its action for this turn. At the start of each players turn, their player character recovers 3 EP points (see section 'HP & EP' on page 14 for more details).

Before you begin your turn, if there are any invasion event cards in play (such as the 'orb of frailty' above) perform these effects first.

Once the player has either declared his/her turn end or used all its EP, the next player clockwise may perform his/her action. Continue this until all players have completed their turn.

Enemy Phase

Each enemy unit on the board activates and performs its action based on the enemy action rule (see section 'Enemy Action'). [The preview has no heading 'Enemy Action'; the enemy action rule is the one in section 6, Enemy.] Once all enemy units have performed their actions and there are still waves remaining, return back to the Invasion phase.

4. Map Tiles

Map Concept

Map tiles are constructed as a 3x3 grid, in this game each of these grids is referred to as the 'square'. A square is further divided into 4 'spaces' and each space can hold 1 unit.

Map Movement

Players can move their character from 1 adjacent square to another, provided they are connected. The connection between each square is indicated by the red line between the square. A unit can move between map tiles provided that both entrances are available.

You may not move into a square that has all spaces fully occupied by units. This is also true for enemy units.

Range and Line of Sight

A unit has a line of sight to another unit if the map lines that connect each square are connected all the way to the specific unit. In general a line of sight is necessary in order to perform any ranged attacks, both for heroes and enemies.

The Heart

The heart, which is the center square on the map tile indicated as 'C' is the most important square in the whole of the Citadel. The HP of the heart is represented in the turn counter, and like units will sustain damage when attacked. When all life tokens are removed from the heart it will be game over.

5. Player

Player Sheet

Each player can keep track of their player character through the character sheets as shown below. Each Player Sheet represents one of the race and should be handed out to the player who selected that race.

[Figure: player character sheet. Not transcribed.]

HP & EP

HP indicates the life force of the player character. If the marker reaches 0, the player enters a state of being incapacitated (see section 'incapacitated' on page 17 for more details).

EP or Energy Points indicate the player's ability to perform various actions. Each action has a different amount of EP usage, indicated by the EP symbol. Users can choose to use all EP available within a turn.

Both HP and EP cannot increase beyond the maximum amount indicated on the player sheet. Each race has a different maximum amount possible for HP and EP.

Attribute Roll

In general most actions in the game will require the player to roll for an attribute roll to see if you can succeed in the action or not. There are 3 types of attribute, Strength (STR), Agility (AGI) and Magic (MAG). These are also indicated by the STR, AGI and MAG symbols.

STR represents the physical ability, it is how strong they can withstand a blow, or deal one to its enemy.

AGI represents the skillful and agile you are, in both physically and mentally. It allows them to hit a target better with ranged attack as well as dodge incoming attacks.

MAG represents the mystical power all life form possesses within themselves. It allows you to perform magical attacks better as well as fend off against special energy.

Each race has its own strength and weaknesses, indicated in the player character sheet. The number on each attribute represents the bonus they get when rolling such roles.

For example Jyujin is an agile race, thus it will get +2 bonus to any AGI roll. However they have difficulties in manipulating Magic, and so gains no bonus when making a MAG roll.

Weapon, Armor and Items

Each player may equip 1 weapon, 1 armor and carry up to 3 items. After being crafted, these item cards can be placed below the character sheet for easier reference.

Invasion Phase Player Actions

During the players turn, each player has a certain amount of EP (Energy Points). EP can be used for the following action by the player:

• Movement (1 EP)

Move the player character from 1 square of the map to another. Please see the 'Map tiles' section for details on movement on the map.

If the player character is engaged with an enemy unit on the same square, then for every space that is occupied by the enemy unit it will take +1 EP to escape.

• Melee Attack (1 EP)

An attack can only be done when an enemy unit is in the player's square.

When you perform a melee action, roll for STR. You need to add up the result of your STR roll together with any bonus, than minus the enemy armor amount. Succeeding the STR roll means you have successfully managed to penetrate their armor and dealt damage, in most cases this will be a killing blow to the enemy unit.

• Trade Items (1 EP)

When in the same square with another player character, a player can trade the item he she have with another player. You may trade as many item as you like.

• Assist (1 EP)

You may assist another player character who has been knocked out to return back on its feet. Doing so would restore 1 Life point to that player character. In order to perform this action you must be on the same square as the other player.

• Racial Skill ( EP)*

Once per turn, the player can choose to use the racial skill indicated in the player character card. These are powerful skills that can turn the tide of battle, but you can only perform a limited amount of time during the game.

• Use Items ( EP)*

Some of the items are usable, in such cases it will be indicated in the card items description and also the amount it will use.

[Figure: sample item card. Not transcribed. Its callouts read:]

a) The name of the item. b) The Points required crafting this item. c) The type of item:

• Passive Bonus will be applied to your character at all times.

• Consumable Items are used up and discarded once activated. d) Description of the item effects.

• Class Skills ( EP)*

Players can choose to use any of the Class Skills they have selected during their turn. The amount of EP it will consume will vary depending on the skill and will be indicated at the top right corner.

Incapacitated

If the HP of a player character reaches 0, they enter a state of being 'Incapacitated'. This is indicated by turning the player character miniature lied down on the tile. Also the character takes a heavy injury, he/she must roll a D6 dice and collect an injury token based on the injury table below.

Roll	Injury	Effect
1	Heavy bleeding	At the start of your turn roll a D6. If you roll a 1 remove 1 HP.
2	Broken Leg	Movement cost +1 EP
3	Broken Arm	-1 to STR roll
4	Eye injury	-1 to AGI roll
5	Concussion	-1 to MAG roll
6	Only a flesh wound	No injury

It is possible to gain multiple injuries, and injury effects will stack with each other.

In the incapacitated state the player cannot perform any actions; he/she must wait for another player character to perform an 'assist' in returning on its feet.

When Playing with Less Than 4 Players

Each player plays with 1 player character only, irrespective of the number of players. When there are fewer players, there are added bonuses. Please see below for the bonuses:

# of players	Preparation phase bonus	EP regeneration bonus
3	Additional 10 points per player	None
2	Additional 30 points per player	None
1	Additional 60 points	+1 to EP regeneration

6. Enemy

In Defense of the Citadel, enemy units move according to a certain rule. The base rule of their action is as follows in order of priority:

1. Enemies will attack the heart, if possible.
2. Enemies will attack a player character, if possible.
3. Enemies will move towards the heart by taking the shortest route possible.
4. In a possible case that all routes to the heart are blocked, Enemies will destroy player made obstacles (e.g. barricades) hindering them from doing so.

What each enemy unit can do is represented on the enemy roster. By default enemy units can move 2 squares and attack in melee once per turn.

The enemy roster is not included in this preview.

Enemy Attack

During the enemy phase, the table turns and the players are now on the defending side. The same rule applies but in reverse, so when the monster is doing a melee attack you can do a STR roll to withstand the attack, or AGI roll to dodge an range attack, or MAG roll to repel a magic attack. If you fail the roll than you take damage equivalent to the enemy damage amount minus your armor.

The preview ends here, mid-section (page 19 of the preview PDF). The remainder of the enemy rules, the enemy roster, the invasion card list and the scenario book are not included.