Fate: Defenders of Grimheim Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
• Game Components
• The Game Board
  • Terrain
  • Locations
  • Grimheim
  • Time Tracks
  • Monster Supplies
• Card Overview
• Game Setup
  • Player Setup
• Turn Overview
  • Actions
  • Free actions
  • End of Turn
• Quests and Equipment
• Experience, Gold, and Upgrades
  • Upgrading
• The Monster Turn
  • 1. Move the Time Marker
  • 2. Roll the Monster Dice
  • 3. Monsters Move
  • 4. Monsters Attack
  • 5. Reinforcements
• Attacks
  • Knocked Out Heroes
• The Monsters
  • Trollkin
  • Fire Horde
  • Dead
  • Legends
• The Monster Cards
• Adjusting Difficulty
• Solo Rules
• Clarifications
  • Line of Sight?
  • Unpreventable damage
  • Adjacency
• Credits

Game Overview

In Fate, each player takes the role of an aspiring hero of Grimheim. Together, the heroes try to defend the town against increasing waves of monsters coming from all directions. Each time a monster enters Grimheim, 1 of the town pieces is destroyed. All players lose if the town is completely destroyed, but they win if at least Freyja's Well remains when she returns with her warriors at the end of the game.

Game Components

• 1 Monster Dice — Optional: Increases difficulty and makes monsters less predictable.
• 20 Attack Dice — Used to resolve attacks and effects.
• 8 Damage Dice — Used to mark damage and progress on quests.
• 1 Game Board — Showing monster stats, 2 alternative time tracks, and space for the town pieces in the middle.
• 10 Town Pieces — 9 houses and Freyja's Well. If they are all destroyed, you lose the game.
• 12 Player Markers — 3 per player, to mark actions and upgrade cost.
• 141 Monster Tiles, consisting of:
  • 10 Draugr
  • 15 Skeletons
  • 20 Imps
  • 10 Jotunn
  • 15 Elementals
  • 20 Sprites
  • 10 Trolls
  • 15 Brutes
  • 20 Goblins
• 6 Boss Tiles
• 54 Monster Cards — 36 yellow, 18 red. These determine which monsters appear on the board.
• 135 Crystals — 45 each of green (mana), yellow (gold/experience), and red (damage).
• 1 Rune Stone — Marks the turn on the time track.
• 4 Heroes (2 Hero Boxes) — Each hero consists of 1 miniature and a card deck of 40 cards, including abilities, equipment, and event cards. The heroes are Boldur, Embla, Bjorn, and Alva.
• 4 Player Boards

The Game Board

The game board shows a map with hexagonal areas. Each area has a terrain type, either plains, mountain, forest, or lake. Regardless of terrain type, areas can also have roads. All areas with names are called locations. Some locations contain several areas and have a red or yellow border.

Grimheim is the town in the center of the board. Unlike other locations, Grimheim is considered one single area.

Heroes and monsters are collectively referred to as characters.

Each area can only hold 1 character (hero or monster) at a time, and that area is then occupied. No character may move through occupied areas, not even if the occupant is on their team. Heroes may not move into mountain areas, but monsters may. Moving into any area takes 1 movement, regardless of terrain type.

Terrain

• Plains — There are no special rules for the plains.
• Mountain — Only monsters may move into mountains.
• Forest — When a character occupies a forest area, it has cover (see attacks on page 9).
• Lake — No character may move into a lake area.
• Roads — Roads only affect how monsters move (see page 8). They have no other function in the game.

Locations

All areas with names are locations. Some are only 1 area and some locations contain several areas.

• Troll Caves — Consists of 3 mountain areas that may be occupied by heroes.
• Nailfare — Consists of 2 lake areas that may be occupied by characters.

Grimheim

This is considered to be 1 big area where any number of heroes may stand at the same time. Heroes inside Grimheim are considered to be adjacent to each other, but not adjacent to the surrounding areas: Heroes inside Grimheim cannot interact with characters outside of it and vice versa.

When you move into Grimheim, your current movement always ends (you need another move action or effect to exit). When moving out from Grimheim, you may enter any area adjacent to it (except the mountain).

If a monster enters Grimheim, remove any 1 Town Piece and return the monster tile to the supply. If a monster boss enters Grimheim, instead remove 3 pieces. If the last piece (Freyja's Well) is removed, the players lose the game.

Healing Effect of Freyja's Well: Using a mend action in Grimheim lets you remove a total of 5 damage markers from your hero and equipment cards (instead of just healing 2 damage from your hero).

Time Tracks

Along the edge of the board, there are 2 alternative time tracks. These keep track of which turn it is and when to add new monsters to the game board. The shorter time track is for a shorter game (30 min / player) with a slightly lower difficulty level, while the longer (40 min / player) will take more skill to win.

Each turn with crossed axes introduces new monsters, and the skulls mean all monsters charge towards Grimheim (see Monster Turn, page 8).

If Freyja's Well remains after the last turn, you win!

Monster Supplies

All monster tiles which are not in use are stored in their respective supply spots on the game board (boss tiles are placed beside the board).

Card Overview

Each hero deck is unique, but all of them contain 40 cards:

• Hero Card: 1 double-sided hero card, where the backside shows an upgraded version. You need to upgrade your hero to use that side.
• Ability Cards: 6 double-sided ability cards, where the backside shows an upgraded version (notice the "I" and "II" in the card names). 1 of these abilities is marked as "STARTING", and it starts in play.
• Equipment Cards: Approximately 10 cards, depending on the hero. The backside has a color matching the hero portrait. 1 of these cards is marked as "STARTING" and it starts in play.
• Event Cards: Approximately 23 cards, depending on the hero. The backside shows the hero portrait.

Cards in play show, among other things, an attack strength value, health, and mana generation (shown by an icon in the lower left corner on cards that generate mana).

Example — Hero Card (Bjorn): "Bjorn is the self-made man. At least, his clothes are self-made. And his weapons. And his braids... Not much of it remains, since he learned from an early age that he must rip what he's sewn." Starting side: attack strength 2, health 9. Ability: "After any dice roll, you may spend 1 focus action to add 2 damage." Upgraded side: attack strength 4, health 10. Ability: "After any dice roll, you may spend 1 focus action to add 3 damage."

Example — Ability Card (Blue), Bjorn's "Sure Shot": Starting side (I): "3 mana: Deal 3 damage to a monster within attack range." Flavor: "Who needs luck when you have certainty?" Upgraded side (II): "2 mana: Deal that much damage to a monster with damage in attack range."

Example — Equipment Card (Green), Bjorn's "Trollbane": Quest: "Collect 5 gold from killing trollkin to get a fearsome reputation." Card text: "This is your Main Weapon. Attack range 2. Add 1 damage to attack actions against trollkin." Flavor: "Once used to strangle the Trollfather. Not the conventional usage of a bow, but hey, it worked." Strength bonus +3.

Example — Event Card (Red), "Prey": Quest: "Mark an undamaged rank 3 monster or an undamaged boss with 2 damage markers. It is worth +2 experience." Flavor: "Pray for your life."

Game Setup

1. Place the monster tiles on their respective supply spots on the game board.

2. Place Town Pieces (including Freyja's Well) in Grimheim based on player count:

   • 1 player = 4 pieces
   • 2 players = 6 pieces
   • 3 players = 8 pieces
   • 4 players = 10 pieces

   If the last piece (Freyja's Well) is removed, you lose the game!

3. a. Place 3 damage markers in Troll Caves (on the specified area). A hero there may remove them to remove 3 damage from his/her cards. b. Place 3 mana markers in Nailfare (specified area). A hero there may add them to their cards. c. Place 3 gold markers in Wyrm Lair (specified area). A hero there may gain them.

4. Choose a time track (short or long). Place the Rune Stone on the first spot of that track. If Freyja's Well still stands after the last turn, you win the game!

5. Shuffle the yellow and red monster cards into 2 separate face-down decks. Each player draws a yellow monster card and places monsters accordingly (see page 10). New monsters appear when the time track shows the crossed-axes or skull symbol.

Player Setup

6. All players take a player board and places it in front of them on the table.
7. Each player chooses one of the hero decks with their accompanying miniature, and places the miniature in Grimheim on the game board.
8. Place the hero card, starting equipment, and starting ability outside your player board on the table. The cards outside the player board are your active cards that you can use (cards on your player board are not "yours" yet).
9. Place 1 player cube at the green start of the upgrade cost track. Each time you upgrade, the next one will cost more. Place 2 player cubes in the empty "Actions" spots on the player board. You may take 2 different actions each turn.
10. Shuffle the 5 remaining ability cards (blue) and place them on the Abilities spot (level I side face up). These are powerful effects you can acquire by gaining experience and upgrading your hero. Only the top card should be visible at any time.
11. Shuffle all remaining equipment cards (green) and place them face-up on the equipment spot. The top card is your ongoing quest. If you complete the quest, you get the equipment. Only the top card should be visible at any time.
12. Shuffle all event cards (red) and place them face down on the Event Deck spot.
13. Add 2 gold to your player board, add 1 mana to your starting ability card, and draw 1 card from the event deck. (Skip this step for a harder game.)

Turn Overview

The players decide together who will be the starting player. If they cannot decide this, the one who can drink the most mead without falling over is the starting player. If you decide this by a contest, don't continue play until all players wake up again. The player order will not change during the game. On each turn, a player may perform 2 actions, by moving his/her action markers from the empty spaces to one of the available action spaces. The player may not move both action markers to the same space, even if he/she really wants to.

The available actions are presented below. The player may also perform any number of free actions available, such as playing cards or using cards already in play. When all actions have been performed, the player ends the turn (see End of Turn below). By then, the next player may eagerly start the next turn. Once all players have performed their turns, the monsters have their own turn, following the rules on page 8.

Actions

• Move (3): Move your hero up to 3 areas on the board. Each area may only be occupied by one character at a time. You cannot move through occupied areas, not even your co-players' areas. Heroes cannot move into mountain areas.
• Attack: Add up your attack strength indicated on all your cards in play. Roll that many attack dice against any monster within your attack range (read more on page 9).
• Prepare: Draw 1 card from your event deck. You may never have more than 4 cards in your hand, but you may discard cards without effect at any time to make room for new cards.
• Focus: Add 1 mana to 1 of your abilities or equipment that uses mana.
• Mend: Remove 2 damage from your hero. If you are in Grimheim, damage may also be removed from equipment cards, and you may remove a total of 5 instead of 2.
• Practice: Add 1 experience to your player board.

If a card lets you perform a specific action, it is an additional action. Perform the action without moving any action marker. This is the only way to perform the same action more than once in the same turn.

Free actions

• Use Equipment — Your equipment cards may only be used once per turn (except cards that prevent damage, they may be used once each time you receive damage). Some equipment require you to place a damage marker on them to perform the effect (i.e. "Draw 1 event card"). Such equipment have a durability value (icon in the lower right corner), indicating how many damage markers it can hold. If it already has that many damage markers, it cannot be used again until damage has been removed.
• Use Ability — Your ability cards may only be used once per turn (except cards that prevent damage, they may be used once each time you receive damage). Many abilities require you to spend 1 or more mana to perform its effect. That mana must be taken from the same card, you may not pay with mana from other cards.
• Play Event — Play an event card from your hand. Perform its effect, then place it in your discard pile. You may not play event cards while performing an action, such as in the middle of your movement. However, if the card says "this attack action", it may be played after the dice roll in an attack action to alter the results. Note that some cards are played outside your turn, if indicated by the card itself.
• Share Gold — At any time, you may give or receive gold from any adjacent hero. Tip: the transfer will be smoother if both heroes agree.

NOTE: Free actions never count as "attack actions", even if they roll attack dice or deal damage.

End of Turn

When the player has performed 2 actions and any free actions he/she wishes to perform, the End of Turn starts. Do the following in order:

1. Reset the action markers to their empty spots.
2. Upgrade your hero if you have enough experience to do so (see Experience and Upgrades on the next page).
3. Add mana to all cards that have Mana Generation (icon in lower left corner). These cards only add mana to themselves.
4. Draw 1 event card to your hand. If you already have 4 cards, you may not draw this card, unless you discard another card without effect first.
5. You may put the top equipment on the bottom of the equipment pile OR put the top ability on the bottom of the ability pile. You may not look at the next card beforehand.

Some cards and effects refer to the End of Turn. Those effects may be performed at any time during these steps. For example, if you upgrade and get a new ability with an end of turn effect, you may use it right away, you don't need to wait until your next turn. Some quests are also completed at any time during the end of your turn (i.e. "End your turn in the Witch Cabin").

Quests and Equipment

The only way to get new equipment is by completing quests. Each player has an equipment pile on their player board where the top card shows the current equipment you can obtain by completing the quest written at the top of the card. For clarity, the quest requirements are underlined, while the rest of the text is for flavor.

If you complete the quest, immediately move the equipment card from the top of the pile to your other active cards outside the player board. Since the equipment pile is face-up, a new equipment card with a new quest is now revealed.

Example — Alva's Bracers: Quest: "Pay 5 gold in a forest to have them imported from Alfheim." Card text: "1 mana or 3 mana: Perform an attack action." Flavor: "Brace for impact!"

When a quest tells you to "spend" an action, it means you have to perform an action (move an action marker to that action space) without gaining its normal effect; you are completing the quest instead of the normal effect. You do not have to complete a quest in one go; some quests may even require several turns to complete. Track any progress with crystals or damage dice on the equipment card.

You may have any number of equipment cards in play. The only restriction is that you may only have 1 Main Weapon. If you get a new Main Weapon, place it on top of the other one for the rest of the game.

Example: Bjorn's equipment Bone Bane Bow has this quest: "Spend a mend action on Nailfare to bind the relics." He moves to 1 of the Nailfare areas and moves an action cube to the Mend Action to get this equipment. Note that he doesn't get to heal 2 damage. Because he already has a main weapon, he places Bone Bane Bow over it to replace it.

Experience, Gold, and Upgrades

Throughout the game, you will collect gold and experience, which are treated as the same resource in this game (gold may be spent as experience and vice versa). Whenever you kill a monster (directly or indirectly, through attacks or other effects), you gain experience:

• Gain 1 experience for rank 1 monsters (Sprites, Goblins, Imps)
• Gain 2 experience for rank 2 monsters (Elementals, Brutes, Skeletons)
• Gain 3 experience for rank 3 monsters (Jotunn, Trolls, Draugr)
• Gain even more experience for killing bosses (see the individual boss cards)

See monster reference on the game board (or page 10) for more monster info.

Experience / gold markers are stored on your player board. At the end of each turn, a hero may be upgraded if he/she has enough experience to take the next step on the upgrade cost track. For example, you need to remove 5 experience to perform your first upgrade.

Upgrading

Move the upgrade cost cube to the next step and pay the experience printed on that step. Then choose an upgrade:

A) Gain a new ability: Move the top ability from the ability pile to your active cards outside the player board. B) Improve a card: Flip one of your existing ability cards or your hero card to its upgraded side.

Note:

• A player cannot upgrade more than once per turn, even if he/she has the required experience for 2 upgrades.
• If you choose an ability with an end of turn effect, you may use it immediately.
• If you choose an ability which generates mana, note that mana is added after upgrading; the new ability generates mana the same turn.
• When you reach the red square on the upgrade track, all future upgrades cost 10 experience.

The Monster Turn

After all heroes have performed their turns, the monsters have a turn of their own, following these steps:

1. Move Time Marker
2. Roll Monster Dice (Optional)
3. Monsters Move
4. Monsters Attack
5. Reinforcements

1. Move the Time Marker

Move the Time Marker one step. If it enters a reinforcement step (crossed axes), you will draw new monster cards in the Reinforcements step. If it enters a skull step, all monsters charge (see below). If it enters the last step, the players win if Freyja's Well remains at the end of that monster turn.

2. Roll the Monster Dice

Roll the monster dice and perform its effect (see below). Note that this step is an optional variant to increase the difficulty and make monsters less predictable. If this is your first game, we recommend that you skip this step and don't use the monster dice.

• Maneuver: In player order, all monsters adjacent to that hero simultaneously rotate clockwise around that hero (if possible). This may mean a monster moves into Grimheim to destroy town pieces.
• Maneuver (counter-clockwise): Like above, but counter-clockwise, and therefore much scarier.
• Attack: All monsters have attack strength +1 this turn.
• Push: Each hero adjacent to a monster is pushed 1 area towards Grimheim, if possible (follow monster path).
• Charge: All rank 1 monsters charge this turn (see Charge rules).
• Ambush: All heroes must place 1 new goblin adjacent to themselves. If a player stands in Grimheim, this effect is ignored for that player.

3. Monsters Move

There are 2 golden rules for the movement phase:

1. Monsters adjacent to heroes NEVER move in this phase.
2. Monsters ALWAYS follow their path towards Grimheim.

The arrows at the edge of the game board show which direction all monsters from that side of the board will move. They move in this direction until they either reach Grimheim or a road. Once on a road, the monster will follow the road the rest of the way to Grimheim. Monsters will never deviate from this pattern during the movement phase, but may be moved by other effects into new paths towards Grimheim.

Starting with the monsters closest to Grimheim and ending with the monsters farthest away, move each monster 1 area forward, if possible. Monsters cannot move if they are adjacent to a hero (golden rule 1), and they cannot move if the area in front of them is already occupied. If 2 monsters would enter the same road area, the monster already on the road moves first.

Charge: A monster that charges moves 1 additional area on its path towards Grimheim. Monsters charge for a few different reasons, but will never take more than 1 additional step.

A) The Monster Dice may cause rank 1 monsters to charge. B) On the skull turns, all monsters charge. C) If a monster cannot attack after its normal movement, but can do so by charging, it charges.

If a monster is not adjacent to a hero, it will move as normal, even if that means it moves out of attack range.

Bosses don't like to stand in line behind other monsters. If other monsters stand in their way, they simply switch places with them in order to move, including any additional charge step.

If a monster moves into Grimheim, remove it from the game along with 1 Town Piece. If it's a boss, remove 3 Town Pieces instead.

Example: 1) Goblin A is closest to Grimheim. But since it is adjacent to Embla, it cannot move. 2) Handle brutes B and C next. Brute B moves first, since he is on a road. Brute C cannot move now, as his path is blocked. 3) Move trolls D and E 1 step forward. 4) Troll F moves 1 step, but charges (moves 1 additional step) to attack Embla.

4. Monsters Attack

In whatever order the players decide, all monsters who can attack do so. If a monster can attack 2 different heroes, the players decide which one is attacked (see Attacks below).

5. Reinforcements

If the time marker is on a reinforcement step, each player draws 1 monster card and places monster tiles on the game board according to the card's instructions (see Monster Cards on page 11).

Attacks

When attacking, a character chooses a target within its attack range. If nothing else is stated, each character has attack range 1, meaning it can only attack adjacent enemies. Calculate the attacker's strength.

For heroes, add up the strength values on your hero, equipment, and abilities. Roll that many attack dice to determine how much damage is dealt:

• HIT
• HIT, except if defender has cover (by standing in a forest).
• MISS
• Rune: MISS, but some effects may apply when rolling this side.

Cards that refer to "this attack action" may be played after the dice are rolled to alter the outcome. If the hero is the defender, the player may use events, abilities, and equipment to prevent damage. Once all special effects have been added, count up all hits and deal that much damage to the defender:

• Place a damage dice on the monster tile (or boss card) to show how much damage it has. If a monster has as much damage as its health, you killed it; remove the monster tile (and boss card) and gain as much experience as it is worth.
• Place damage on the hero card to mark how much damage a hero has. If a hero has as much damage as its health, it is knocked out (see below).

Examples:

Bjorn (A) wants to attack. Since he has a bow which gives him attack range 2, he can attack the troll. He counts up his attack strength: 2 from his hero card, +1 from his bow, and +1 additional from his Quiver equipment, which equals 4. He rolls 4 attack dice, getting a result of 3 hits, 1 miss. After the roll, Bjorn plays the card "Master Shot", which adds 2 damage to the attack, totalling 5 damage, which is marked with a damage dice on the Troll tile.

Embla (B) attacks the adjacent goblin. She rolls her 4 dice, but gets a result of all misses. Since the goblin stands in a forest, it has cover, so no dice hit. Luckily, Embla plays the card "Magic Runes", which allows her to re-roll up to 3 dice. The new result gives 2 hits. This deals 2 damage to the goblin, which dies. She gains 1 experience and kicks the goblin corpse off the map, back to the goblin monster supply.

Knocked Out Heroes

If heroes are knocked out, they are immediately carried back to Grimheim. By their mother. She's not happy. Remove damage markers from the hero card until there is exactly 5 damage on it.

Remove 2 town pieces from Grimheim (the village folk panic and lose grip on their defenses).

There is no other penalty for being knocked out, continue play as normal.

The Monsters

Trollkin

From the smallfolk, known as goblins, to the brutes of the forest, and on to the fullsized trolls, these creatures mainly live in the woods. They are known to come in groups and tribes, and their strength lie in their numbers.

Trollkin Effect: All trollkin get +1 attack strength for each other trollkin adjacent to them.

Goblin Additional Effect: Goblins move 2 areas instead of 1. (They may take a 3rd step if they charge.)

Monster	Rank	Attack Strength	Health
Goblin (moves 2)	1	1	2
Brute	2	3	3
Troll	3	6	7

Fire Horde

These firey beings are the spawns of Jotunnheim. The sprites are small and mischievous living fire balls. With enough magma nutrition, they grow up to be fire Elementals, hovering on their own fiery swirl, ejecting burning rocks caught up from the ground. The largest fire horde creatures are the Jotunn themselves, the ancient fire giants. Mostly made out of large boulders with magma holding them together, the Jotunn are known for their great strength, hurling rocks at their enemies.

Fire Horde Effect: All fire horde have attack range 2.

Monster	Rank	Attack Strength	Health
Sprite	1	1	2
Elemental	2	3	4
Jotunn	3	5	6

Dead

Death might not be as final as some believe. These dead creatures spring back to life, albeit without any of their formal mental capacities. They are reckless, brutal, and their only goal is to spread death further. The imps are nasty spawns of Hel, with their wing claws full of toxins. Skeletons are raised viking warriors of the old. It is said that what doesn't kill you make you stronger, but you'll find that what kills you might also make you stronger. Not as strong as the Draugr though, who also descend from the half-giants. While the skeletons are relatively fragile, draugr are tough and armored.

Dead Effect: Runes count as hits for the dead.

Draugr Additional Effect: Draugr have armor (prevent 1 damage each time it is dealt damage).

Monster	Rank	Attack Strength	Health
Imp	1	2	2
Skeleton	2	4	3
Draugr (armor)	3	6	5

Legends

You may also encounter some of the ancient horrors of Norse mythology, referred to as legends. They have special stats and some of them have extra effects. When a legend enters Grimheim, they tear down 3 town pieces instead of just 1, so don't let them in! Legends also switch places with monsters in front of them if their movement is otherwise blocked (see monster move phase on page 8). Each legend comes in 2 levels, 1 yellow and 1 red. Choose the right side of the legend tile when placing it on the board!

• Grendel — The strength of this colossal beast is only matched by his lack of intellect. He has heard the singing from the mead hall and can't bear it any more. He is hungry...
• Nidhuggr — While the actual Midgaard Serpent encircles the entire world tree Yggdrasil, nobody really has time to compare the sizes when this similar beast approaches.
• Surt — The fire giant with his flaming sword is supposed to bring about Ragnarök, the apocalypse of the cosmos - if he makes it that long.
• Queen of the Dead — A chilling sight to behold, Hel brings the dead to the underworld at death. At least those who died of old age and sickness. Let's hope that's not you...
• Hrungbald — This brute leader is fearless and collects battle scars as trophies of his invincibility. Naturally, his presence infuses the entire trollkin clan with confidence.
• Seer of Odin — This unsettling figure may be blind, but still sees things of the past and future, acting as an advisor to the Asgaard gods. In this case Loki and his hordes.

The Monster Cards

On reinforcement turns (marked with the crossed-axes or skull symbol on the time track) monsters appear on the board. The monster cards are used to determine how to place these monsters. In player order, each player draws 1 corresponding monster card (yellow or red) and places the monsters accordingly.

There are 2 types of monster cards: Standard monster cards and legend cards. Standard monster cards (like Jotunn Youth Camp) show a set of monsters to place in a location on the board. In this example, place 3 Sprites and 3 Elementals in Spewing Mountain, according to the setup shown on the card. When the monsters have been placed, place the monster card at the bottom of the corresponding deck.

The legend cards have an image showing the legendary enemy, the special stats and effects of the legend, and sometimes placements for standard monsters that come along with it. For example, Queen of the Dead enters the Dead Plains with 4 Imps, 3 Skeletons, and 1 Draugr. Note that the legend tiles have 2 sides that correspond to 2 different levels of each legend, yellow and red.

Place the legend card beside the game board to keep track of its strength, health, effect, and reward. When the legend is killed, place the card at the bottom of the corresponding deck.

In some situations, all monsters cannot be placed as indicated on the card. If so, put the card at the bottom of the deck and draw a new one until you get a card which can be placed in full.

These are some examples where you need to draw a new card:

• If there are not enough monster tiles available in the supply.
• If you draw a legend card, and that legend tile is already in play.
• If one or more of the indicated areas are occupied.

Adjusting Difficulty

If you have won Fate several times, you can escalate the difficulty in a few different ways:

1. You can add the monster dice to introduce a less predictable movement pattern for the monsters. The monster dice is described on page 8.
2. Try the longer time track, it makes the game slightly more difficult to win.
3. Skip step 13 in the setup, starting with no gold, mana, or cards in hand.
4. Start one step up on the upgrade cost track on your player board to increase the cost of all your upgrades.
5. If you still insist on winning the game, contact the Fryxelius brother closest to your location to come and control the monsters personally, introducing arbitrary surprise rules during the game to make it more challenging...

Solo Rules

Playing Fate solo is just as playing with other player counts. Since each player draws 1 monster card at every Monster Reinforcement phase, the difficulty adjusts automatically to the number of players.

Clarifications

Line of Sight?

When an attack or effect has range 2 or more, it can target any character within that number of areas, even if it stands behind other characters or mountain areas. The exception is Grimheim, which may not be shot over. Instead, count the areas around Grimheim's borders to reach your target.

Example: Bjorn needs range 4 to reach goblin A since you cannot shoot over Grimheim, and range 3 to reach goblin B. He plays "Limber Bow" to get attack range 4 - problem solved.

Unpreventable damage

When a character is dealt unpreventable damage, it cannot use effects to prevent it. This is especially relevant for Boldur and Draugr, which usually always prevent 1 damage.

Adjacency

You are considered to be adjacent to the terrain type of your own area. For example, if a quest requires you to be adjacent to a forest and you are standing in a forest surrounded by plains areas, you still fulfill the requirements.

Credits

Game Design: Jonathan Fryxelius

Assistant design: FryxGames

Illustrated by: Michel & Naomi Rodin, Fishpond Entertainment

Designer Thanks:

Benjamin, my brother, with whom I created the first version of the game some 15 years ago, what a thrill we had!

Tomas Nordquist, for great inspiration and a never-ending enthusiasm for this game.

Thomas and Peter Fryxelius, who have always supported the game through all crazy ideas I've tried to implement.

Thanks to the team (FryxGames) without whom I would never be able to complete this project.

But most of all, thank you God for the joy of creativity. I marvel at Your creation.