Dragonbond: Lords of Vaala – Legends of Valerna Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• The Kadhah & the Fell Knight
  • Playing With Both
  • Playing With 5-6 Players
• The Kadhah
• The Fell Knight
• Draconic Offerings
  • Setup
  • Draconic Offerings and Cities
  • Spending Draconic Offerings
• Lairs
• Faceless Players
• Expansion Generals
  • Onatella Pai
  • Sagriv
• Heroes
  • Deployment
  • Recruiting a Hero
  • Bonding with a Hero
  • Absorbing Hero's vitality
  • Faceless players

Components

• 1 Fell Knight Player board
• 1 Kadhah Player board
• 11 Fell Knight cards
• 11 Kadhah cards
• 1 Fell Knight miniature
• 1 Kadhah miniature
• 1 Onatella Pai miniature
• 1 Sagriv miniature
• 1 Alliance token
• 1 Doom token
• 4 Lair tokens
• 6 Onatella Pai cards
• 6 Sagriv cards
• 19 Power tokens
• 9 Wound tokens
• 6 Hero cards
• 2 Draconic Offering Health tokens
• 2 Draconic Offering Movement tokens
• 6 Draconic Offering Power tokens
• 2 Draconic Offering Combat tokens
• 2 Hero tokens (Ranged)
• 2 Hero tokens (Cavalry)
• 2 Hero tokens (Infantry)

The Kadhah & the Fell Knight

These characters are played as Dragons with a twist. They do not raise armies or collect Power tokens directly from the board but they can gain Power by filling their Essence Track and through their unique Doom and Alliance abilities.

The effects from their Glyphs are described in the Player boards. Their Action cards have different configurations of Glyphs. Remember: Glyphs must always be resolved from top to bottom.

Unless otherwise specified, the Kadhah and the Fell Knight count as a Dragon for other players' Vaala cards or Glyphs in their Player boards, as well as rules in the base game or other expansions. With the exception of the Dragonbond mechanic —the Kadhah and the Fell Knight cannot Dragonbond.

Playing With Both

If the Kadhah and the Fell Knight are in the same game, draw the starting region for each of them in turn before returning the cards to the Region Deck. This way, they start in different regions.

During the Cleanup phase, the Kadhah chooses whom to give the Doom token to before players bid on the Fell Knight's alliance.

Playing With 5-6 Players

With the addition of new Player boards, the option to play with more than 4 players becomes available. To play with 5-6 players, simply make the following changes to the game:

• Players do not need to sit with Dragon players between General players, as they have to in the base game.
• During setup, place an additional neutral Unit on each non-starting region on the board.
• In the planning phase, a player may only pass if they have played at least two cards to the Action stack.

The Kadhah

The Kadhah plays as a Dragon with some changes. In games with 4 or fewer players, the Kadhah must replace a Dragon player.

The Kadhah cannot Dragonbond or be played as a Faceless player.

During setup, after other players have received their starting Region cards but before neutral Units and Power tokens are placed on the game board, draw a Region card and place the Kadhah into that region. This is the Kadhah's starting region. Shuffle back the Region card.

During each Cleanup phase, give the Doom token to any player, if the player chosen has the most (or tied for the most) Power, gain 1 Power. This player is Doomed. You cannot gain the 10th Power token in this way.

The Kadhah has +2 Combat Value against the Doomed player.

If the Kadhah's Wound Track fills up, it is destroyed. Remove the Kadhah from the board and discard all face-up Vaala cards in front of the Kadhah player. If destroyed in combat initiated by other player, the attacker gains 1 Power (not stolen, the Kadhah doesn't lose a Power). If the Kadhah would resolve a card but is destroyed, it instead resolves a [sun-in-circle icon, as printed on page 4].

Note: Vaala cards from the Kadhah that are placed in front of the player (even the ones played after it has been destroyed) should not be discarded at the Cleanup phase. Discard the next time the Kadhah is destroyed.

At the beginning of the Cleanup phase, remove all wounds from the Kadhah. If the Kadhah has been destroyed, draw a Region card randomly from the Region deck (after General players have taken Region cards into their hands) and place the Kadhah into that region.

The Kadhah cannot heal in any way, other than the removal of wounds at the beginning of the Cleanup phase.

During the Cleanup phase, the Kadhah chooses the Doomed player (may choose the same or another player).

The Fell Knight

The Fell Knight plays as a Dragon with some changes. In games with 4 or fewer players, the Fell Knight must replace a Dragon player.

The Fell Knight cannot Dragonbond or be played as a Faceless player.

Their Arcane Action cards have the Vaala Glyph first.

During setup, after other players have received their starting Region cards but before neutral Units and Power tokens are placed on the board, draw a Region card and place the Fell Knight into that region. This is the Fell Knight's starting region. Shuffle back the Region card.

At the end of each Cleanup phase, each other human player may bid Power to the Fell Knight. Players bid in initiative order: they may pass, match the highest bid or bid a higher amount. Bidding continues until all players have passed (once a player passes, they cannot participate again during that round).

The player who bids the most Power gains the Alliance token and must give you that amount of Power tokens from their own Player board to yours. In case of a tie where two or more players bid the most Power, you choose one of the tied players to give the Alliance token. If you would gain 10 or more Power in this way, instead gain up to 9 Power —the remaining Power is returned to the supply.

While a player has the Alliance token, they are the Fell Knight's ally, and the following rules apply:

• The ally player may not initiate combat on the Fell Knight, or vice-versa.
• The ally players may collect Power from regions containing the Fell Knight.

In addition, the ally or the Fell Knight may gain Power or other benefits as indicated in the Fell Knight's Player board or Vaala cards.

If no players bid any Power, the Fell Knight keeps the Alliance token and places it in front of their Player board. They gain +2 Combat Value while they have the Alliance token in front of them.

Draconic Offerings

Dragons invade Valerna not only for raw power, they need to bring back tribute for their Azhurma in Drakha, the Red Moon. This offering can be captive Valernians, but it can also be artifacts, objects or even knowledge, depending on what their Azhurma likes.

Setup

Turn all Draconic Offering tokens facedown (treasure chest showing) and shuffle them, then place them next to the board. This is the supply. Whenever a Draconic Offering token is returned to the supply, place it facedown and shuffle with the other facedown tokens in the supply.

Draw 3 Region cards and place a Draconic Offering token facedown into each region, then a City token on top of the Draconic Offering. Shuffle the Region cards in the Region deck afterwards.

Place the respective Lair token in each Dragon's starting region. Return the tokens not used to the box.

Draconic Offerings and Cities

Whenever a city is placed into a region, take from the supply a Draconic Offering at random and place it facedown under the City token.

When your Dragon begins its move in, or moves into, a region containing facedown Draconic Offering tokens you may secretly look at them.

If a city is removed from the board in a combat initiated by a Dragon, they may look at all Draconic Offering tokens under it and place any amount of them onto their Player board, facedown. Return the rest to the supply. If a Region with Draconic Offerings has no Units, the Dragon may still initiate combat to destroy the city with a hit and take all Draconic Offerings.

If a city is removed from the board in a combat initiated by a General, they must take any Draconic Offerings under it and place them under cities in regions they control. A city may have multiple Draconic Offering tokens below it. If a General doesn't have a city to place the Draconic Offering underneath, return the Draconic Offering tokens to the supply.

If a city is removed for any other reason, return any Draconic Offerings underneath to the supply.

Spending Draconic Offerings

A Dragon player may spend Draconic Offering tokens on their Player board by flipping them over to reveal their icon.

• Flip this token after rolling dice during a combat to reroll all your dice.
• Flip this token at any time to heal 1 wound.
• Flip this token before activating a Glyph to move your Dragon to an adjacent region.
• Flip 2 tokens of this type at the beginning of the Cleanup phase to gain 1 Power. You can only do this once per Cleanup phase.

After spending a Draconic Offering token, return it to the supply.

Lairs

Any player may attempt to steal Draconic Offerings from Dragon players.

When activating a [four-point star in a circle icon] in a region containing a Lair and no Power tokens, take a random facedown Draconic Offering from the Dragon who owns the Lair (if there's any on their Player board). You may secretly look at the token that you took. Then do the following depending on the type of player that you are:

Dragon player: place the Draconic Offering token onto your Player board, facedown.

General player: if the token has a Power icon, reveal it to gain 1 Power. Then, return the Draconic Offering token to the supply. If the token has any other icon, place it under a city token in a region you control. If you don't control a region with a city token, return the token to the supply.

Non-Dragon, non-General player: immediately reveal the token, resolve the effect described below, and return the token to the supply afterwards.

• Gain 1 Power.
• Heal 1 wound.
• You may move to an adjacent region.
• No effect.

Faceless Players

Faceless Dragons do not look at Draconic Offerings when they are in a region.

They collect Draconic Offerings as normal. At the start of the Cleanup phase, flip Draconic Offering tokens faceup at random until 2 Power tokens are flipped. If 2 Power icons are revealed, return them to the supply and the faceless Dragon gains 1 Power. If 0 or 1 Power icon is revealed, flip them back facedown.

Faceless Generals steal Draconic Offerings as normal. They immediately reveal the token after taking it from a Lair and return it to the supply (not below a City). If a Power icon was revealed, they gain 1 Power.

Expansion Generals

In the core game of Lords of Vaala four factions are included —two realms from Valerna and two dragon broods— each with their own player board and Action cards. All factions have their strengths, but on top of that, players control unique characters with singular Vaala cards for each of them.

The world of Rhaava and the Red Moon of Drakha are filled to the brim with individuals of varied proficiencies. In expansions like this one, you can find new legendary characters to lead the factions they belong to.

To play with an expansion General, simply take the General's miniature, Character card and Vaala cards, replacing the ones belonging to that realm in the main game. Refer to the logos in the Character cards to find the proper Vaala cards of that character along with the faction's Player board, Action cards and Unit tokens from the main game.

• Allarian Generals include Elyse, Onatella, Eldai of Fion, to name a few.
• Tyverian Generals include Adrael, Sagriv, Baryen, and more.

Note: Sagriv's facedown Vaala cards are not discarded at the Cleanup phase.

Onatella Pai

The most powerful politician and business gnome in Valerna, her greed is her greatest asset. She is the leader of the Grand Guild of Allaria, an overarching conglomerate where Godao gnomes conduct their experiments freely and sell their tools and inventions across Valerna, in return for their research in Allaria's best interests.

Sagriv

The master alchemist, assassin and intelligencer acknowledges no authority and no equal.

There are more Shev halflings in Tyveria than anywhere else, as their alchemy and assassination services are highly prized, both among rival maghyr houses and in the Crimson Crow syndicate, the Tyveria-based largest criminal family in Valerna.

Heroes

The primal force of Vaala is present in all of Valerna. From stardust to mountains, in every creature from giants to fleas. It is through Vaala that the cosmos changes and mortals wield flame. Across the ages, Valerna has seen countless storied heroes who forge their own destiny.

Deployment

During setup, shuffle the Hero cards into the Denizen deck.

Every round, when you reveal a new line-up of Denizen cards, for each Hero card that is revealed, draw a random Region card from the Region deck and place a corresponding Hero token (of the same type) in that region. Keep the Region card faceup paired with the Hero card until that Hero Unit is wounded. Immediately replace the Hero cards in the line-up with new cards drawn from the Denizen deck. Keep doing this until the line-up consists of six Denizen cards and no Hero cards.

Heroes are neutral Units with Combat Value of 2. Their regions are considered neutral and can have other neutral Units in them to form a stronger Neutral force. Wounds must be applied to other neutral Units in the region before Heroes.

When a Hero is wounded, discard its card and shuffle the paired Region card into the Region deck. Human players wounding Heroes in combat (not with Vaala cards or other abilities) may spend 1 Power to gain an additional benefit.

Recruiting a Hero

After wounding a Hero in a combat involving your General, you may spend 1 Power to recruit the Hero. Choose a Denizen card from the line-up with a matching type as the Hero (Cavalry, Infantry or Ranged) and place it on your Player board (if you had a Denizen card of the same type in your Player board, discard it). Remove the Hero token from the board and place 1 Unit token of the matching type (Cavalry, Infantry or Ranged) in that region if you still have 1 or more Units there (but fewer than 6).

If no Power is spent, place the Hero token into the supply.

Bonding with a Hero

After wounding a Hero in a combat involving your Dragon, you may spend 1 Power to bond with the Hero. Remove the Hero token from the board and place it onto your Character card (it is not added to your Essence Track). This works differently to dragonbonding with a General. Follow these steps:

• The Dragon cannot dragonbond with any other players or Heroes.
• The Dragonbond ability is not gained.
• The Dragon gains +1 Combat Value.

If no Power is spent, place the Hero token into your Essence Track.

Absorbing Hero's vitality

After wounding a Hero in a combat involving your non-General, non-Dragon character (such as the Fell Knight or the Kadhah), you may spend 1 Power to absorb the Hero's vitality. Remove the Hero token from the board (it is not added to your Essence Track), flip up to 3 of your spent Power tokens to their unspent side.

If no Power is spent, place the Hero token into your Essence Track.

Faceless players

If a Faceless Dragon player wounds a Hero in combat, place the token into their Essence Track.

If a Faceless General player wounds a Hero in combat, place a unit of the same type from that Faceless player's supply into its General's region.