Firefighters on Duty Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Component Breakdown
  • City Tiles
  • Block Types
  • Vehicles
  • Cards
  • Other Tiles
  • Scenario Booklets
• Game Setup
• Gameplay
  • Start of Round Phase
  • Action Phase
• Dice Actions
  • Water
  • Move Vehicle
  • Firefighter
  • Gear
• Free Actions
  • Transferring Water
  • Loading / Unloading Firefighters
  • Loading / Unloading Equipment
  • Loading / Unloading Civilians & Injured People
• Fire Phase
  • Radio Reports
  • Fire Growth
  • Fire Spread
• End of Round Phase
• Other Rules
  • Hazard cards
  • Debris
  • Equipment
• Game End
• Solo Rules

Components

• 64 Cards: 24 Events, 16 Distress Calls, 4 Hazards, 4 Fire Axes, 4 Electric Shut-Offs, 8 City Tile Randomizers, 4 Player Aids
• 6 Vehicle miniatures: 4 Fire Engines (4 colors), 1 Water Truck, 1 Rescue Vehicle
• 93 Dice: 8 Action, 80 Water, 4 All-Purpose D6, 1 Randomizer D12
• 68 Cardboard tokens: 14 Debris, 28 Double-sided Hazard, 10 Scenario Point, 8 Distress Call, 8 Double-sided Extinguish Difficulty
• 27 Cardboard tiles: 8 Double-sided City Tiles, 2 Fire Stations, 5 Burned Blocks, 1 Hospital, 4 Fire Hydrants, 1 Water Truck, 1 Gathering Point, 1 Rescue Vehicle
• 95 Wooden tokens: 52 Fires, 8 Fire Hoses, 4 Fire Axes, 8 Firefighters, 10 Civilians, 12 Injured Person, 1 Round marker
• 4 Booklets: 1 Rulebook, 3 Scenario booklets

Component Breakdown

City Tiles

Firefighters on Duty comes with 8 double-sided City Tiles. These tiles are used to form various maps. The Scenario you choose to play indicates the tiles, their position, orientation and side you should use to form the Game board.

Important: Both Roads and Blocks count as Spaces.

Roads are accessible to both Firefighters and Vehicles. Blocks are accessible only to Firefighters. Also, each Block is surrounded by a dashed colored border. The color of that border, along with the symbol on its top right corner, indicates that Block's Type.

Every City Tile has its own letter for easy recognition. One side features the letter in white while the other side features the letter in black. Furthermore, every Space on each City Tile has a number. This allows players to easily follow Setup instructions or to resolve Events, making every Space on the board easily distinguishable. For example A2, C4, E5, G7, describe unique Spaces on the Game board.

Roads are separated from each other by white lines and pedestrian crossings. They are also separated from Blocks by pavements.

Block Types

• Green Blocks feature residential buildings, which have higher population numbers.
• Yellow Blocks feature weaker structures, which have a higher chance of collapse.
• Red Blocks feature industrial buildings, which have increased flammability.

Vehicles

Each vehicle in the game is represented by a miniature and a cardboard tile. There are two types of vehicles: Fire Engines and Common Vehicles.

Fire Engines

Fire Engines are essential for extinguishing fires. Each Fire Engine tile has an Action slot, two Firefighter slots (capacity 2 Firefighters), a Water Tank (capacity 12 Water), and Equipment slots (capacity 2 Equipment).

Common Vehicles

• Water Truck — Water Trucks can transfer water from a Fire Station to a Fire Engine on distant Roads. Its tile has a Water Tank (capacity 12 Water per tank).
• Rescue Vehicle — Rescue Vehicles are required to transport injured people to the Hospital. Its tile has Civilian or Injured Person slots (capacity 2 Civilians or Injured People).

Cards

Hazards

These cards are used to randomly determine the type of Hazard tokens that should be added on a Block. Hazard tokens have negative effects the players need to prevent.

Distress Calls

Each Scenario designates the number of Distress Calls players must respond to during the game. A faster response can limit the effects of a Distress Call (see Distress Calls). A Distress Call card shows a response time — Fast, On Time, or Late — each with its own response effect.

Events

Whenever Fire on a Block reaches a critical level, an Event card determines what happens next (see Events).

Equipment

During Scenario setup, players receive a number of Equipment cards allowing them to perform actions throughout the game (see Equipment). Each Equipment card shows its associated token, an Action slot, and its Effect.

Other Tiles

• Fire Stations have an unlimited Water Reserve capacity and an unlimited Vehicle capacity on their Fire Station's Road. They also carry the Round track.
• Hospital has a Hospital's Road.
• Fire Hydrants have a Water Tank (capacity 4 Water).

Scenario Booklets

Firefighters on Duty comes with 3 Scenario booklets that feature various Scenarios based on the player count. Each Scenario page shows the Scenario name, how it started (flavor text), the Starting Scenario Points and Scenario Rating, the player count, a Scenario mini-map, a Map - Overview of the Scenario, the quantity and position of elements for the Scenario, and the Scenario Objective.

Game Setup

To setup a game of Firefighters on Duty perform the following steps:

1. Choose a Scenario from the Scenario booklet based on the player count, and select the Difficulty level (Easy or Hard) (see Fire Spread). Following the Scenario instructions, place City, Fire Station, Hospital and Fire Hydrant tiles to create the Game board in the middle of the table.

2. Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding Fire Engine miniature and Fire Engine tile, 2 Action dice, 1 All-Purpose D6 die, a Fire Axe card, an Electricity Shut-off card, and a Player Aid card. Each player places their Fire Engine miniature on one of the Fire Station Roads and the rest of the items they took in front of them. Then, each player takes 12 Water and fills up the Water Tank of their Fire Engine tile (the number shown on each die does not matter while inside the Water Tank).

3. Separate the Distress Call, the Hazard and the Event cards (based on their type) into 5 decks. Shuffle each deck and place it face-down next to the Game board.

4. Place all Debris tokens next to the Game board.

5. Place the Common Vehicles on their starting spaces: The Water Truck miniature starts on either of the Fire Station Roads. The Rescue Vehicle miniature starts on the Hospital's Road.

6. Place all Fire tokens in a supply pile close to the Game board.

7. Place each Fire Hose and Fire Axe token on the Fire Station of your choice.

8. Place each Firefighter token on the Fire Station of your choice.

9. Place all Civilian and all Injured Person tokens in two separate supply piles close to the Game board.

10. Fill up each Fire Hydrant with 4 Water.

11. Place all remaining Water dice in supply piles close to each Fire Station.

12. Place all Hazard tokens close to the Game board.

13. Place all Distress Call tokens close to the Game board.

14. Place all Burned Block tokens close to the Game board.

15. Place all Extinguish Difficulty tokens close to the Game board.

16. Place the Water Truck and Rescue Vehicle tiles close to the Game board.

17. Place the Round marker on the Hospital on the round 1 space. Place the number of Scenario Point tokens indicated by the chosen Scenario on the Hospital tile.

Important: Once you have completed the Setup steps, add Fire, Debris, Civilians, Injured People, Hazard tokens, Distress Call tokens etc. on the Game board following the instructions of the chosen Scenario.

The Scenario in the Scenario booklet indicates which elements will be used, their position and their quantities.

Example: This Scenario indicates that 18 Fires in total should be placed on the Game board. Each row shows a specific City Tile and the Spaces in which Fire tokens should be added. This means that on City Tile B, you must place 3 Fires on Space 4, 1 Fire on Space 6 and 2 Fires on Space 8.

Adding new Fire — Important: This rule applies whenever a new Fire token is placed on the Game board, including during Game Setup and the Fire Phase. All newly added Fire tokens must be placed on their side (Inactive). While Inactive, a Fire token does not contribute to any totals.

You are now ready to start the game!

Gameplay

A game of Firefighters On Duty lasts up to 6 rounds (unless stated otherwise by the chosen Scenario). Each round is divided into the following Phases:

Start of Round Phase

All Inactive Fires (laid on their side) become Active (are turned upright). Re-fill all Fire Hydrants to their full capacity. At this point, players may discuss and coordinate on their strategy. Once ready, they may begin the Action Phase.

Action Phase

Use a digital timer or cell phone with a timer feature and set it to a 2-minute countdown. Once all players are ready, start the countdown. During this phase, players have two minutes of real-time gameplay, working together to perform as many actions as possible. Players may perform two main types of actions during the Action Phase: Dice Actions and Free Actions.

Dice Actions

To perform Dice Actions, players use their two Action Dice, rolling them as many times as they want. Each die features 4 symbols. Whenever the player rolls one of those symbols, they may perform the corresponding action before rolling again. Aside from performing the corresponding actions of each rolled symbol, players may choose to reserve a die with a rolled symbol and perform its action later before rolling it again. Action dice can be re-rolled any number of times during the Action Phase and players may roll both dice or one at a time.

Water

When a player rolls this symbol, they may take 1 Water from the general supply and add it to a Fire Station's Water Reserve.

Note: If there is no more Water available in the general supply, this action may not be performed.

Move Vehicle

When a player rolls this symbol, they may move their own Fire Engine or any Common Vehicle to an orthogonally adjacent Road. Vehicles may not move diagonally.

Important: Vehicles may not be moved to a Road already occupied by another Vehicle. They can however be moved to a Road containing any number of People and/or Equipment. An exception to this limitation is the Fire Station Road, which can hold any number of Vehicles at any time.

Firefighter

When a player rolls this symbol, they may move any Firefighter on the Game board, to an adjacent Space. In addition, a Firefighter may also carry one of the following from the Space they left to the Space they moved: one Civilian, or one Injured Person, or one Equipment.

Note: Civilians may be moved between Spaces by a Firefighter. An Injured Person may be moved between Blocks by a Firefighter. Once an Injured Person gets moved from a Block to a Road they may no longer be moved by a Firefighter. Instead they must be loaded on the Rescue Vehicle to get transferred to the Hospital.

Gear

Various actions through the game require the use of a Gear symbol. When a player rolls this symbol, they may place the Action die on any corresponding Action slot to perform that action (for example, to Extinguish Fire or to activate Equipment cards).

Extinguish: To perform this action, a player must place one of their Action dice with a Gear symbol on the Action slot on their Fire Engine tile and select the Space they wish to extinguish. Based on where the Fire is (Block or Road), the following requirements must be met:

• Extinguish on a Road — To perform an Extinguish action on a Road, the player's Fire Engine must be on that Road.
• Extinguish on a Block — To perform an Extinguish action on a Block, the presence of a Firefighter as well as a Fire Hose is required on that Block. In addition, the player's Fire Engine must be present on a Road adjacent to that Block.

Once the requirements have been met, a player may initiate the extinguish process. They take any number of Water from their Fire Engine, and roll them. Each Block features an Extinguish Difficulty number while all Roads have an Extinguish Difficulty of 3+. Each Water result equal to or higher than the Extinguish Difficulty is a success and removes 1 Fire from that Space. Once all results have been resolved, players may repeat this process, taking and rolling more dice from their Fire Engine until they no longer wish to spend Water for the selected Space. All spent Water must be returned to the general supply.

Important: Before initiating the Extinguish process, ensure that there are no Hazards preventing you from doing so (see High Voltage).

Several players may perform an Extinguish Action on the same Block at the same time, using the same Firefighter and Fire Hose. However, each player needs to have their own Fire Engine present on a Road adjacent to that Block. Players may also form chains of Firefighters with Fire Hoses to reach Blocks that are farther away from a Road containing a Fire Engine.

Important: A Fire Hose may not be used on a Road, nor can it be part of a chain that crosses a road.

Example: With a Firefighter and a Fire Hose forming a chain through Block 5, the green and the blue player may now perform an Extinguish action on Block 1.

Important: Once the timer has stopped, players cannot resolve any unresolved rolls of their dice. If, however, they had already allocated one of their dice on an Action slot, they are allowed to resolve that particular Action with no time pressure (for example, Extinguish a Fire by rolling a final extinguish roll) and then the Action Phase ends.

Free Actions

During the Action Phase, players may also perform the following Free Actions that do not require a die roll.

Transferring Water

Players may freely transfer Water to and from their own Fire Engine. These are the requirements for each type of transfer:

• Fire Station Reserve: To transfer Water from the Fire Station Reserve, the player's Fire Engine must be on the Fire Station's Road.
• Fire Hydrants: To transfer Water from a Fire Hydrant, a Vehicle capable of carrying Water must be on the Road adjacent to that Fire Hydrant.
• Common Vehicle: To transfer Water to or from a Common Vehicle, the player's Fire Engine must be on an adjacent Road to the Common Vehicle.
• Another Fire Engine: To transfer Water to another Fire Engine, the Fire Engines must be on adjacent Roads.

Loading / Unloading Firefighters

Players may freely load or unload Firefighters on Vehicles capable of carrying them. To be loaded on a Vehicle, the Firefighter must be on the same Road as the Vehicle.

Loading / Unloading Equipment

Players may freely load or unload Equipment onto Vehicles capable of carrying them. To be loaded on a Vehicle, the Equipment must be on the same Road as the Vehicle. Firefighters do not need to be present for Equipment to be loaded or unloaded.

Note: Loading and unloading Firefighters or Equipment from a Fire Engine may only be done by its owner. However, as soon as a Firefighter or Equipment is unloaded from a Fire Engine, any Player may then utilize them as normal.

Loading / Unloading Civilians & Injured People

Players may freely load or unload Civilians or Injured People onto Vehicles capable of carrying them. To be loaded on a Vehicle, the Civilian or the Injured Person must be on the same Road as the Vehicle. A Firefighter does not need to be present for Civilians or Injured People to be loaded or unloaded from Vehicles.

Note: Loading and unloading means moving the token between the Game board and the Vehicle's tile.

Fire Phase

During this Phase, Radio Reports provide crucial information as various incidents take place. Then, the fire grows and expands.

Radio Reports

Look throughout the Game board and perform all 8 Radio Report steps in the following order:

1. Casualties: If there are any Injured Person tokens in Spaces containing Fire, a Casualty occurs. Important: If a Casualty occurs, the Scenario is a failure and players lose the game immediately.

2. Injuries: Any Firefighter or Civilian in a Space containing Fire is Injured. Remove all Firefighter and Civilian tokens from such Spaces and replace them with Injured Person tokens. Each removed Firefighter token returns to a Fire Station of your choice. Any removed Civilian tokens return to the general supply.

3. Vehicle Damage: Any Vehicle on a Road containing Fire is Damaged. Add 1 Fire token on that Vehicle's tile as a reminder. If there already is a Fire token on the Vehicle tile, the Vehicle is Destroyed. Important: If a Vehicle gets destroyed, the Scenario is a failure and players lose the game immediately.

4. Destroyed Equipment: Equipment left on Spaces with at least 1 Fire gets destroyed. Each destroyed Equipment token returns to a Fire Station of your choice.

5. Burned Blocks: Any Block containing 4 or more Fires burns down. Remove all Fire and any Hazard tokens from that Block and place a Burned Block tile on it. Lose 1 Scenario Point for each newly Burned Block. Burned Blocks can no longer have Fire or Hazard placed on them. Any Debris and/or Injured People on such Burned Blocks remain there and are treated as normal. Burned Blocks are still accessible by Firefighters. Important: If 4 Blocks burn down, the Scenario is a failure and players lose the game immediately. If, after losing a Scenario Point, you have no more remaining, the Scenario is a failure and players lose the game immediately.

6. Trigger Hazards: Look throughout the Game board for Blocks containing Hazard tokens and resolve their effects if they are triggered. Note: Each Block may contain only one Hazard token of each type.

   • Compressed Gas: If there is a Compressed Gas token on a Block which contains at least 1 Fire, remove that token and add 3 Fires on that Block (see Adding new Fire).
   • Explosive Substances: If there is an Explosive Substances token on a Block which contains at least 1 Fire, remove that token and add 1 Fire on the 3 adjacent Spaces with the highest Space numbers (see Adding new Fire). If it is not possible to add Fire on a specific Space, skip this step. If more than one options exist, players may choose where to place the token.
   • Thick Smoke: If there is a Thick Smoke token on a Block on its 2+ side, flip it to its 1+ side. If it was already on its 1+ side, remove it from the Game board. During the Action Phase, the Extinguish Difficulty of that Block increases based on the side of the Thick Smoke token. Whenever you have to add a Thick Smoke token on a Block, place it on its 2+ side next to the Extinguish Difficulty.

Note: If as a result of a Distress Call or Event it is not possible to place a token on the Game board, skip that placement. If more than one options exist, players may choose where to place the token.

Fire Growth

Look throughout the Game board for Blocks containing at least 1 Fire, and add 1 Inactive Fire (see Adding new Fire) on each such Block.

Exception: Fire does not grow on Blocks that already contain at least 1 Inactive Fire.

Important: Fire on Roads does not grow. Also, a Road may never contain more than 1 Fire.

Fire Spread

Look throughout the Game board for Blocks adjacent to Spaces containing at least one Fire, and roll an All-Purpose D6 die for each such Block. Depending on the Difficulty level you are playing with, follow the corresponding table below to see how much fire spreads and add Fire accordingly on that Block (see Adding new Fire).

Exception: Fire does not spread to Blocks already containing at least 1 Inactive Fire. Do not roll for such Blocks.

Note: Having at least one Firefighter present on a Block to which Fire could spread inhibits that spread (see below).

Important: Fire does not spread on Roads during the Fire Spread.

Easy Difficulty — Roll result

Is a Firefighter on the Block?	1	2	3	4	5	6
No	-	-	-	Add 1 Fire	Add 1 Fire	Add 2 Fire
Yes	-	-	-	-	Add 1 Fire	Add 2 Fire

Hard Difficulty — Roll result

Is a Firefighter on the Block?	1	2	3	4	5	6
No	-	-	Add 1 Fire	Add 1 Fire	Add 1 Fire	Add 2 Fire
Yes	-	-	-	-	Add 1 Fire	Add 2 Fire

Important: Whenever you have to add Fire on a Space and there are no more tokens in the General Supply, you lose 1 Scenario Point instead. If, after losing a Scenario Point, you have no more remaining, the Scenario is a failure and players lose the game immediately.

End of Round Phase

Advance the Round marker to the next space on the Hospital and start the next round.

Other Rules

Hazard cards

The Scenario you choose to play as well as several Event cards will instruct you to add Hazard tokens to the Game board. Unless the type of Hazard token is specified, use the Hazard cards to randomly determine which token type will be added.

To do so, shuffle all Hazard cards and draw one at random for each token you are instructed to add. Since each Block may only have one Hazard token of the same type, whenever you draw the same Hazard type for that Block, draw another Hazard card until you either draw one that isn't already present on that Block, or you run out of Hazard cards.

Debris

A Firefighter may enter a Block that has one or more Debris on it. However, to exit, players must first remove all such Debris.

Similarly, a Vehicle or a Firefighter may enter a Road that has one or more Debris on it. However, to exit, the Debris must first be removed.

To remove a Debris token from a Space, a Firefighter and a Fire Axe token must be present on that space. Then any player may activate their Fire Axe card ability to remove the Debris (see Fire Axe, below).

Equipment

Fire Axe: This Equipment can be activated to remove Debris from a Space. To activate it, a Firefighter and a Fire Axe must be present on that Space and a player must place one of their Action dice with a Gear symbol on their Fire Axe card. That player then rolls an All-Purpose D6 die and removes one Debris token on a roll of 4 or higher. If not successful, the player must repeat the entire process. Many players may Activate their Fire Axe card for the same Debris at the same time.

Electric Shut-off: This Equipment can be activated to remove a High Voltage token from a Block. To activate it, a Firefighter must be present on that Block and a player must place their two Action dice with a Gear symbol on their Electric Shut-Off card. That player then removes the High Voltage token from the Block.

Game End

The game ends after the last round has been completed.

Lose 1 Scenario Point for each Injured Person that has not been delivered to the Hospital. Then, lose 1 Scenario Point for each Civilian remaining on a Space with Debris. Finally, check below to determine the game's outcome.

Important: If the Scenario objective has been completed and you have at least 1 Scenario Point remaining, players win the game! If the Scenario objective has not been completed or if you do not have any Scenario Points remaining, players lose the game.

Solo Rules

Firefighters on Duty can also be played solo. Always follow the setup instructions as if you were playing a 2-player game, but with the following adjustments:

• Take two Fire Engine miniatures, 2 Fire Engine tiles, and 3 Action dice. You can utilize either Fire Engine with your Action dice.
• Start the game with 1 additional Scenario Point.
• Set the countdown timer for each Action Phase to 4 minutes (instead of 2).
• At the end of the game, lose 1 Scenario Point (rounded down) for every 2 Injured People (instead of 1) that have not been transferred to the Hospital.
• At the end of the game, lose 1 Scenario Point (rounded down) for every 2 Civilians (instead of 1) remaining on Spaces with a Debris token.