Dinosaur Table Battles Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • Dino Cards
  • Action Cards
    • Dice Area (A)
    • Attack Area (B)
    • Reaction Area (C)
    • Passive Abilities (D)
• Set-Up
  • Action Cards, Tokens, and Dice
• Winning a Match
• Flow of Play
• Attack Phase
  • Targets
  • Reactions
  • Resolving Hits
  • One Token Left
• Roll Phase
• Dino Law
  • Attack
  • Absorb
  • Counter
  • Passive Abilities
  • Targeting Restrictions

Components

Dinosaur Table Battles is played with 50 cards, 27 Hit tokens, and twelve dice.

There are two kinds of cards.

• Each Dinosaur is represented by a Dino Card.
• Each Dinosaur has a set of unique Action Cards.

Hit tokens are used to indicate damage dealt to a side. It's important to note that each player has a pool of Hit tokens used by all of their dinosaurs collectively.

Dino Cards

Each Dino Card represents a specific Dinosaur. Each Dino Card indicates a Breaking Point (A): when it suffers this number of Hits in a single Attack, it may lose one of its Action Cards. This Breaking Point is also present on each Action Card. If a Dinosaur ever has zero Action Cards remaining, the Dinosaur goes to the Dinosaur Hospital where it will be fine I promise.

Each Dino Card has a Draft Ranking (B). This is simply a numerical expression of how "good" that Dino is: the higher the number, the better the Dino.

Additionally, the Dino Cards list the weight, length, height, and diet of the Dino: these have no bearing on gameplay, and are just provided so that we can pretend the game has educational value. Note that just like people, dinosaurs of a species can come in all different sizes, and the stats provided represent only an estimated average or an extreme. And even these are the subject of debate between scientists trying to reconstruct this data from fossils and comparisons to living animals.

Weight is measured in short tons or pounds, and height and length in feet. (For the 94.7% of the world's human population that doesn't use these measurements, one ton is about 907 kilograms, one pound is about half a kilogram, and there are about three feet in a meter.)

Action Cards

Dice Area (A)

The Dice Area is where dice are placed on the card. In order to make an Attack (or take a Reaction) with the card, there must be dice in the Dice Area. The Dice Area will indicate what type of die results can be placed there:

• Die Icons: Only dice that match one of the icons displayed may be placed there. For example, if the icons are 5 and 6, then only fives or only sixes may be placed there, but not both. Note that you could place fives on one turn, and sixes on a subsequent turn. Multiple dice of the same type may be placed on the card during the same turn unless the die icon(s) are enclosed by [brackets], in which case only one die may be placed there per turn.
• Doubles: Two blank die icons indicate Doubles; only two matching dice may be placed there on a single turn.

Attack Area (B)

The Attack Area tells you what the card does when it is activated during your Attack Phase. To use the Attack, it must have at least one die on the card (if "Pair" is indicated, you need at least two matching dice). Using the Attack removes all dice from the card back to your pool. An Attack will attack a target of your choice, inflicting Hits per the text in the Attack Area.

Reaction Area (C)

The Reaction Area tells you what the card does when it is activated during your opponent's Attack Phase. To activate a card, it must have at least one die on it (some specific Reactions require at least a Pair of two matching dice). Using the Reaction removes all dice from the card back to your pool. Reactions come in three flavors: Absorb, Block, Counter.

A Dinosaur's Absorb or Block Reaction can only be activated if another friendly Dinosaur is the target of the Attack; it cannot be used to Absorb or Block an Attack against itself! Conversely, the Counter Reaction can only be used by a Dinosaur that is itself the target of the Attack.

• Absorb Reactions causes the Reacting Dinosaur to suffer Hits instead of the target, and may reduce the number of Hits the Reacting Dinosaur suffers.
• Block Reactions simply "cancel" the Attack: no Hits are inflicted on either side.
• Counter Reactions inflict additional Hits on the Attacking Dinosaur, and may reduce the number of Hits the Reacting Dinosaur suffers.

Passive Abilities (D)

Some Action Cards do not have a Dice Area, Attack Area, or Reaction Area, but instead are home to a Dinosaur's Passive Ability. This effect modifies the rules of the game in some way, sometimes helping the Dinosaur who has it, sometimes helping other Dinosaurs on that side. These Passive Ability rules always take precedence over the rules in this book.

Set-Up

To begin a match, each player must choose their Dinosaurs. For your very first match, try this suggested set-up:

• First Player: Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Utahraptor, Velociraptors - 12 Hit Tokens
• Second Player: Pteranodon, Spinosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex - 13 Hit Tokens

For subsequent matches, you will draft your Dinosaurs. Shuffle all the Dino Cards together, and deal each player five. Each player examines their cards and chooses one to remove from the match without revealing it. Of the remaining four cards, they each choose one card and place it face-up in front of them. Then, they pass their hand to their opponent.

Now, each player should have three cards, and they have a choice: they can either place one of the cards face-up in front of them, or they can remove one of the cards face-up from the match - in both cases, this is done simultaneously with the opponent. Once they have done so, they will pass their hand again, and this will continue until the players have no cards to pass.

As each Dino Card is placed, the player should note how many Action Cards that Dinosaur has, keeping a running tally for their side. Large Dinosaurs (with two sets of die icons) have 3 Action Cards, while Small Dinosaurs (with a single set of die icons) have 2 Action Cards. If placing a Dinosaur would cause a player to exceed eight Action Cards, they cannot place that Dinosaur.

Players who are new to the game might find it useful to consider the Dino Card's Draft Ranking to aid them in making their drafting decisions; generally speaking, the higher the Draft Ranking, the better the Dinosaur. However, those Draft Rankings only look at that Dinosaur in isolation, and it is far more important to consider how your Dinosaurs will work together, as well as which die results they are able to accept.

Action Cards, Tokens, and Dice

Each player finds the Action Cards associated with their Dinosaurs, and places them face-up near that Dinosaur's Dino Card. Each player takes three Hit Tokens per Dinosaur and places them in a common pool. A player takes two extra Hit Tokens for each of the following:

• If they have fewer Dino Cards in play than the other.
• If they have fewer Action Cards in play than the other.
• If they have the Tyrannosaurus Rex in play.

Each player takes six dice. The player with the fewest Hit Tokens will have the first turn. If there is a tie, consult the Dinosaur names on each player's in-play Dino Cards: the player with the first Dino in alphabetical order goes first.

Winning a Match

The game is played in alternating player turns. You win the game if, during your turn, your opponent

• Runs out of Hit Tokens AND/OR
• Has only one Dinosaur remaining in play.

The game can also end if both players each have only one Hit Token remaining. In that case, the player with the most face-up Action Cards wins the match; if tied, the player who went second wins.

Flow of Play

A player's turn consists of two phases, always performed in this order:

1. Attack Phase
2. Roll Phase

Attack Phase

During the Attack Phase, a player may, but is not required to, make a single Attack. To do so, they must remove all dice from a single Action Card, returning the dice to their personal dice pool.

Targets

An Attack will require a target, which will be one of your opponent's Dinosaurs. Some Passive Abilities might restrict the targets available, and in other cases you might choose freely. Only one Dinosaur may be a target of an Attack. Some cards will refer to Large or Small Dinos; Large Dinos are those that begin the match with 3 Action Cards, and Small Dinos with 2.

Reactions

Once you have declared your target, your opponent must check to see if they can React. If they can React, they must React - even if they'd rather not! - and here's the rub: if you React in your opponent's turn, you skip your Attack Phase on your next turn.

• If the Attack before Reactions would inflict zero Hits on the target (e.g., Velociraptors with one die), it does not trigger a Reaction.

When the player Reacts, they remove all dice from the Reacting card to their personal dice pool.

Resolving Hits

If the Attack is not Blocked, determine how many Hits it will inflict against the target. Usually this will simply translate into a number of Hit Tokens being removed from your opponent's pool. If the number of Hits meets or exceeds the target's (or Absorbing Dinosaur's) Breaking Point, the owning player must make a decision:

• They can flip one of the target's (or Absorber's) Action Cards face-down (removing any dice on that card). If all Action Cards for a Dinosaur are face-down, it is removed from play. No Hit Tokens are removed for that side if this option is chosen.
• They can resolve it normally by removing Hit Tokens.

Whenever you perform an Attack, you may suffer one Hit yourself ("1 self"); remove a Hit Token from your supply.

One Token Left

If a player only has one Hit Token left:

• When their Dinos Attack, they ignore "self" Hits (but not Hits from Counters).
• When their Dinos are Attacked, they can (and probably should!) resolve the Hit(s) by flipping over an Action Card, even if the number of Hits is less than its Breaking Point. (If however your situation is hopeless, accept your fate and remove your last token!)

Note that if both players have one Hit Token left, the game ends immediately (see "Winning a Match" above).

Roll Phase

After resolving (or skipping) your Attack Phase, take all of your dice that are not currently on a Dino Card and roll them. Once you have rolled the dice, you may, but are not required to, place dice:

• You may place Dice for up to two of your Dinosaurs.
• For each Dinosaur, you may place dice on only one of that Dinosaur's Action Cards.
• All rules for dice placement indicated in Dice Area above apply.

After resolving your Roll Phase, play passes to your opponent.

Dino Law

For the benefit of Dino Rules Lawyers.

Attack

• 1 hit only. Enemy suffers one Hit.
• 1 hit per die. 1 self. Enemy suffers one Hit for each die on Attacker's card. Attacker suffers 1 Hit.
• 1 hit per die plus 1 hit. 1 self. Enemy suffers one Hit for each die on Attacker's card, plus one extra Hit. (For example, 3 dice is 4 Hits.) Attacker suffers 1 Hit.
• 1 hit per die minus 1 hit. 1 self. Enemy suffers one Hit for each die on Attacker's card, minus one Hit. (For example, 3 dice is 2 Hits; 1 die is zero.) Attacker suffers 1 Hit.

Absorb

• Suffers 1 hit only. Absorbing Dino's suffered Hits are reduced to one.
• Suffers 1 less hit. Absorbing Dino's suffered Hits are reduced by one.
• Suffers hits (reduced by dice). Absorbing Dino's suffered Hits reduced by one for each die on Reacting card. Hits cannot be reduced below zero.
• Suffers hits. Absorbing Dino suffers the normal number of Hits.

Counter

• 1 hit. Suffers normal hits. Attacker suffers one extra Hit. Target suffers normal Hits.
• 1 hit per die. Suffers normal hits. Attacker suffers one extra Hit for each die on Reacting card. Target suffers normal Hits.
• 1 hit. Reduce hits by dice. Attacker suffers one extra Hit. Target's suffered Hits are reduced by one for each die on Reacting card. Hits cannot be reduced below zero.
• 1 hit. Suffers 1 less hit. Attacker suffers one extra Hit. Target's suffered Hits are reduced by one.

Passive Abilities

• Spinosaurus (Water Lurker): Yes, since the game ends if you're down to a single Dino, this Dino can never be attacked while this Passive Ability is in play unless it's a Dino that can ignore target restrictions.
• Brachiosaurus (Treetops): This counts as a Reaction when used but does not negate or reduce any Hits inflicted, requires no dice (just flipping the card), and may only be used when another Dinosaur is the target of the Attack.
• Pteranodon (Watch the Skies): While this is in play, when the Pteranodon attacks, just pretend the enemy's Block Reactions don't exist. This part of its power is separate from its "extra hit against Dino with flipped card" ability: one is not contingent on the other.
• Velociraptors (Egg Thieves): This ability applies only if the opposing player chooses to resolve the Hits by removing Hit Tokens.
• Pachycephalosaurus (Bonk): While the Reaction's text is ignored, it still counts as a Reaction for powers (like the T-Rex's) that depend on whether or not there was a Reaction. Brachiosaurus's Treetops ability, which functions as a Reaction, cannot be used in this case.

Targeting Restrictions

The following Dinosaurs have passive abilities that qualify as targeting restrictions:

• Spinosaurus
• Stygimoloch
• Deinocheirus

The following Dinosaurs have passive abilities that ignore targeting restrictions:

• Therizinosaurus (ignores all)
• Triceratops (ignores all when it has 3+ dice)
• Pachycephalosaurus (ignores Stygimoloch)