For Glory: Champions Expansion
For Glory: Champions Expansion Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Components
- Important Concepts
- New Concepts
- Setup
- Game Flow
- Action: Buy
- Action: Play
- Income Cards & Coin Tokens
- Patron Cards
- Gladiator Cards
- Influence
- Action: Reserve
- Example: Take Actions
- Discard Remaining Hand
- Refill Supply
- Draw 7 Cards
- Check for Arena Phase
- Arena Phase Summary
- Arena Phase Details
- Tactic Cards and Tactic Abilities
- Damage
- Reaction Window
- Reaction Cards and Reaction Abilities
- Defeating a Gladiator
- Ready Gladiators and Redetermine Initiative
- End of Battle
- Resolution
- Boast Cards
- Ending a Battle in a Draw
- Arena Abilities
- Return to the Machinations Phase
- Winning the Game
Components
These components come with the Champions expansion. Please see base game rule book for base game components.
Supply Cards (45 Cards)
The Champions expansion includes new cards for each supply deck. Add each of these cards to the supply deck corresponding to the deck icon printed in the top right corner of the card.
- Gladiator Supply Deck
- Training Supply Deck
- Economy Supply Deck
Other Components
- Starting Decks (14 cards each): Player 3 Starting Deck and Player 4 Starting Deck
- 4 Champion sets (5 cards each)
- Boast Cards (10 cards)
- Ludus Magnus Deck (110 cards)
- 16 "2" Value Coins
- 18 Blessing Tokens
- 4 Player Boards
Important Concepts
Here are a few overarching concepts that are important to understand while learning the rules.
Deck Building
- Each player starts with a personal Starting Deck that mostly consists of Income Cards worth 1 Coin each.
- Income Cards generate Coin which you can spend to buy cards from the Public Supply to add to your Deck.
- When you buy a card, place it on top of your Discard Pile.
- At the end of each Machinations Turn, you will Draw 7 cards from your Deck.
- If you ever run out of cards in your Deck but still need to Draw, shuffle your Discard Pile, and place it face down as your new Deck. Then Draw the card(s) you need from your new Deck. Never shuffle if you don't need to Draw immediately.
- You will cycle through your Deck numerous times as it grows throughout the game.
Card Text Overrules
If the text on a card contradicts a rule in this rule book, the text on the card wins. All text on cards that are in play is mandatory unless a card specifies otherwise.
Interpreting Card Text
Take all card text literally. If a card's text does not say something explicitly, then it does not say it at all. For instance, if a card affects "Gladiators," this is not limited to "your Gladiators." If the text intends to refer to "your Gladiators," then it will say, "your Gladiators."
Winning the Game
The object of the game is to win the Arena Battle in the last round.
New Concepts
This expansion introduces two new concepts to For Glory. Here is an overview of those concepts.
Blessings
A Blessing is represented by a Blessing Token. Some new cards in this expansion allow you to place Blessing Tokens on Gladiator cards.
When Damage is assigned to a Gladiator you own with a Blessing on it, you must remove one Blessing from that Gladiator to prevent all Damage that is currently assigned to that Gladiator. You may not choose not to remove a Blessing from a Gladiator when it is assigned Damage, even if you use another reaction that affects the Damage being assigned.
Champions
This expansion includes Champions, which are upgradeable Gladiators. You can choose to play with or without Champions at any player count. If you decide to play with Champions, each player starts the game with one Champion. Either assign Champions to players at random, or draft Champions in reverse turn order. The last player selects from all Champions, the second to last player selects from the remaining 3, and so on.
Each Champion consists of five cards. Start the game by shuffling your Champion's level 1 card into your Starting Deck (giving you a Starting Deck of 15 cards). Place the remaining four levels in a stack, face up, in order with level 2 on top and level five on bottom, off to one side of your play area.
When you have a Champion card in your hand, you may either:
- Play the Champion card into an Arena, just like any other Gladiator
Or
- Pay the Coin Cost of the next level of the Champion (the level on the top of the stack that you placed off to the side) to upgrade your Champion.
When you upgrade a Champion, pay the Coin Cost of the next Champion level, remove the Champion card in your hand from the game permanently, and place the next level Champion card into your Discard Pile. You may not upgrade more than one level at a time, and you may not skip levels. You may not upgrade a level 5 Champion further.
Once your Champion is in an Arena, it will follow all of the rules of any other Gladiator, until it ends up back in your hand.
Setup
To set up the game, complete the following steps:
- Give each player a Player Board.
- Give each player a Starting Deck, identified by the icons in the top right corner: Player 1's Starting Deck, Player 2's Starting Deck, Player 3's Starting Deck, Player 4's Starting Deck. Note that each Starting Deck has 2 Gladiators marked with the Starting Deck icon: Cestus and Andabata.
- The player who comes up with the best Roman-sounding name goes first. Give that player 5 Coin Tokens. Going clockwise, the next player starts with 6 Coin Tokens. The 3rd player gets 7, and the 4th gets 8.
- Shuffle each of the 3 Public Supply Decks separately and place them in the middle of the table, face down, within reach of all players. Display the top 3 cards of each Supply Deck face up in a line next to the deck. These cards form the Supply. The 3 Public Supply Decks can be identified by the icon in the top right corner of each of their cards: Economy Supply Deck, Gladiator Supply Deck, Training Supply Deck.
- Shuffle the deck of Arena Cards and place it face-up in the center of the play area. Place both Reigning Champion tokens next to it.
- Take the set of Boast cards for the appropriate player count, and place them in a stack face up next to the Arena deck. Order them by the number in the top right corner from smallest on top to largest on bottom. Player count for each set of Boast cards is depicted by these symbols on the Boast cards: 3 Players and 4 Players.
- Place the Damage Tokens, remaining Glory Tokens, and Coin Tokens off to 1 side of the table to form the general token Supply.
- Shuffle your 14-card Starting Deck face down, and put it in front of you as indicated on your Player Board, then Draw 7 cards from it into your Hand. (You and your opponent each start the game with 7 cards in your Deck and 7 cards in your Hand.)
- Give the Crowd's Favor Token to the player who goes last.
The setup diagram in the booklet labels a 4-player table: each player board with its Starting Deck and Starting Coin Tokens, the Champion (Levels 2-5) for each player, the Token Supply (Coin Tokens, Damage Tokens, and Blessing Tokens), the Training, Gladiator and Economy Supply Decks with their face-up cards, the Arena Deck, the Boast Cards, the Reigning Champion Tokens, and the Crowd's Favor Token.
Game Flow
For Glory is played over the course of several rounds. Each round consists of 2 phases as follows:
- Machinations Phase: Players take turns preparing for battle using the deck-building concept discussed on page 5. You will buy cards from the Supply to add to your Deck, and play cards from your Hand. The Machinations Phase ends when both Reigning Champion Tokens have been taken by players, thus triggering the Arena Phase (see page 5).
- Arena Phase: You will control your Gladiators in an Arena Battle against your opponents. Players will earn rewards based on their placement in the Arena Battle. In all but the final round, after the Arena Phase, play proceeds to the next round, starting again with the Machinations Phase.
You will play a total of 3 rounds in a 3-player game, or 2 rounds in a 4-player game.
Machinations Phase Summary
Players take Machinations Turns, one player at a time, in a clockwise turn order. Continue until the Arena Phase is triggered. A player's Machinations Turn consists of the following steps:
- Ready Patrons & Arenas
- Take Actions
- Discard Remaining Hand
- Refill Supply
- Draw 7 Cards
- Check for Arena Phase
Machinations Turn Details
On your Machinations Turn, perform the following steps, in order:
- Ready Patrons & Arenas: Ready all of your exhausted Patron and Arena cards.
Card Ownership
You are the owner of a card if that card is in your Deck, Discard Pile, Reserve, Hand, or Villa, or in an Arena on your side.
The Active Player
The Active Player is the player who is currently taking a turn in any phase of the game.
Readying & Exhausting Cards
Throughout the game, many card abilities require a player to Exhaust a card. In order to Exhaust a card, turn that card horizontal relative to its owner. In order to Ready a card, turn that card vertical relative to its owner. Exhausting a card generally signifies that some or all of its functions cannot be used again until it is Readied.
(The booklet shows an example Hoplomachus card in its Ready and Exhausted states.)
2. Take Actions
Perform each of the following actions as many times as you want, in any order (you will often use every card in your Hand). Card Type Icons on your Player Board indicate which cards can be played for each action, and during each phase of the game.
- BUY: take a card from the Supply and place it in your Discard Pile.
- PLAY: take a card from your Hand and place it into an Arena, your Villa, or your Discard Pile.
- RESERVE: take a card from your Hand and place it in your Reserve.
Action: Buy
Buy a card from the Public Supply.
Pay the Coin Cost in the bottom right corner of the card you are buying by playing Income Cards from your Hand with a total sum value equal to or greater than the Coin Cost of the card you are buying. You may use Coin Tokens to pay for all or part of the cost. Each Coin Token is worth 1 Coin.
Put the purchased card on top of your Discard Pile. Remember that your Discard Pile will eventually be shuffled and will become your new Deck, so you will eventually Draw cards that you had previously purchased.
When you play an Income Card, it goes on top of your Discard Pile immediately after you use it.
Action: Play
Play a card from your Hand.
A card's type is listed below the card's title, and determines when and how it is played. For all types, cost to buy is in the bottom right corner, and benefits are printed in the text box (in the case of Gladiators, stats are also printed below the text box, and the Bloodlust value is in the top right corner).
There are 6 types of cards. While you use Income Cards to Buy during the Take Actions step and you Reserve Tactic and Reaction Cards, you may actually "Play" 3 card types during the Take Actions step of your Machinations Turns: Gladiator, Patron, and Scheme Cards.
Generally, there is no cost to play any card from your Hand.
The most important card type is the Gladiator. Gladiators fight Arena Battles, and ultimately win or lose the game. All of the other card types support a player's Gladiators in some way.
Scheme Cards & Scheme Abilities
Schemes appear in the form of Scheme Cards and Scheme Abilities on Patron Cards.
When you play a Scheme Card, first pay any cost specified on the card in order to use the Scheme (such as Exhausting a card). Then Resolve the effect(s) in the text box, in order, then place the Scheme Card on top of your Discard Pile. Note: a cost to use a Scheme will be followed by the word "to." For example: "Exhaust Aedile to Draw a card..." - the part before "to" is the cost, and the part after "to" is the effect of the Scheme.
You may use Schemes only during the Take Actions step of your Machinations Turn. You may never use a Scheme during the Arena Phase.
Scheme Abilities are Schemes that are listed in the text boxes of Patron Cards. When you use a Scheme Ability, simply pay the cost, and Resolve the effect printed after the word "Scheme."
Income Cards & Coin Tokens
Income Cards
- Play only when you need to spend Coin during any phase of the game.
- Income Cards generate Coin when you play them.
- You can't save any of the Coin that they generate. This Coin must be spent immediately.
- Do not take Coin Tokens when you play an Income Card.
- You don't get change back if you use an Income Card that generates more Coin than you need.
- When buying cards from the Supply, you must buy each card separately. In other words, you cannot spend an Income Card worth 5 Coin to buy 2 cards, even if their costs add up to 5 or less.
- Actions that cost Coin must also be taken separately. For example, you cannot pay for the Scheme Ability on 2 separate copies of Treacherous Augur by using a copy of Shady Dealings (worth 3 Coin) and a copy of Business as Usual (worth 1 Coin).
- You may not use an Income Card if you don't need to play it to generate the amount of Coin that you need. In other words, you cannot voluntarily Discard an Income Card by saying that you spent it on nothing (this mainly only matters during the Arena Phase).
Coin Tokens
- Certain cards allow you to gain Coin Tokens, and you gain a Coin Token whenever 1 of your Gladiators is Defeated.
- Coin Tokens and Income Cards can be used interchangeably and in any combination when you need to spend Coin on anything.
- You may save Coin Tokens as long as you want. When you spend a Coin Token, return it to the Coin Token Supply.
Patron Cards
- Patrons grant Influence. See the section on Influence below regarding Influence.
- You may play Patron Cards only during the Take Actions step of your Machinations Turn. You may never play a Patron Card during the Arena Phase.
- When you play a Patron Card from your Hand, place it in front of you next to your Player Board in your Villa. It will remain in your Villa for the rest of the game. Your Villa is the area next to your Player Board where you keep your Patrons and the Arena Cards that you will eventually win.
- Exhausted Patrons are considered to be blank cards. They do not grant Influence, and they do not grant any abilities as long as they remain Exhausted. Remember that you Ready all of your Exhausted Patrons at the beginning of each of your Machinations Turns.
Gladiator Cards
- Gladiators require Influence to enter and remain in the Arena. See the section on Influence below regarding Influence.
- You may only play Gladiator Cards during the Take Actions step of your Machinations Turn, or during Late Registration at the beginning of each Arena Phase.
- When you play a Gladiator Card from your Hand, put it in front of your player board where everyone can see it. It is considered to be in the Arena. It will remain in the Arena until the end of the next Arena Phase, or until it is Defeated.
Influence
Influence is an important concept in the game. In short, Patrons grant Influence to allow Gladiators to enter and remain in the Arena.
Most Gladiators have an Influence requirement which must be met in order to be in the Arena. This is depicted by the number of Influence icons under the Gladiator's card type icon in the top left corner.
Patrons grant Influence. Your total Influence equals the total number of Influence icons in the text boxes of all of the Ready Patrons that you have in your Villa.
The total Influence requirement of your Gladiators may never exceed your total Influence. If playing a Gladiator Card would cause the total Influence requirement among your Gladiators to exceed your total Influence, you may not play that Gladiator Card.
You may not voluntarily remove a Gladiator from play in order to free up Influence.
Losing Influence
If a Patron that you have in play becomes Exhausted, you immediately lose any Influence that it was granting (because Exhausted Patrons are treated as if they were blank cards). If this causes your total Influence to fall below the total Influence requirement of your Gladiators, you must immediately choose and Discard Gladiators from the Arena until the total Influence requirement of your Gladiators no longer exceeds your total Influence. This can happen during a battle. A Gladiator Discarded this way is considered to be Defeated for all game purposes. You gain a Coin Token whenever a Gladiator you own is Defeated by any means.
Action: Reserve
Reserve any number of Tactic and Reaction Cards from your Hand.
This is a way to save cards for later. Your Reserve is a face-down pile of cards that is separate from your Deck and Discard Pile.
Tactic Cards may only be played on your Combat Turn during the Arena Phase, and Reaction Cards may only be played at specific times. If you Draw 1 of these types of card on your Machinations Turn, you can save it for later by adding it to your Reserve.
You can Reserve as many cards as you want by placing them from your Hand face down in your Reserve (at no cost).
You may only reserve Tactic and Reaction cards.
You can buy your Reserve back into your Hand at absolutely any time by paying Coin equal to the number of cards in your Reserve. You will usually want to buy your Reserve back during the Arena Phase.
When you buy your Reserve back into your Hand, you must buy all cards in your Reserve. You do not have the option of only returning some of the cards to your Hand.
For example, if you have 6 cards in your Reserve, you must pay 6 Coin to buy your Reserve back. You do not have the option to pay 5 Coin to buy 5 of the cards back.
Example: Take Actions
Let's take a zoomed in look at the table after a player named Paul has completed the Take Actions step of a Machinations Turn. Paul took 4 actions in the following order: 1) he bought a Tactic Card, 2) he played a Patron Card into his Villa, 3) he played a Gladiator Card into the Arena, and 4) he Reserved a Reaction Card.
(Editor's note: the example's introduction says Paul bought a Tactic Card, but the Action #1 callout says he bought a Reaction Card, Evade. Both are transcribed as printed.)
- Action #1: Paul bought a Reaction Card, Evade, from the Supply, paying for it with 4 Coin from Income Cards plus 3 Coin Tokens because the Evade card has a cost of 7. He placed it into his Discard Pile.
- Action #2: Paul played the Patron Card, Unscrupulous Consul, from his hand into his Villa. The other Patron Card, Crooked Senator, had already been played into his Villa on a previous turn.
- Action #3: Paul played the Gladiator Card, Hoplomachus, from his hand into the Arena. He was able to do this because his total Influence granted by his Patrons met (and in this case exceeded) the total Influence requirement of his Gladiators.
- Action #4: Paul Reserved a Reaction Card from his hand into his Reserve face down.
Influence Note: Paul's Patrons below are granting 3 Influence and his Gladiators above currently require only 2.
Discard Remaining Hand
Discard all remaining cards from your Hand by placing them face-up on top of your Discard Pile. This is mandatory. You may not save any cards in your Hand. You will often use every card in your Hand during the Take Actions step, and not have any left to Discard.
Refill Supply
Refill the Supply by replacing each card that was purchased with the top card of the deck that the purchased card came from. In this way, there will always be 9 cards available for purchase at the beginning of a player's turn.
If a Public Supply Deck runs out, shuffle that deck's Discard Pile and place it face down, then continue to refill the Supply using that deck.
Draw 7 Cards
Draw 7 cards from your Deck. Whenever you need to Draw a card for any reason, but your Deck is empty, then and only then you must shuffle your Discard Pile and place it face-down as your new Deck. Then you must continue Drawing cards until you have Drawn the number of cards that were needed.
Check for Arena Phase
Add up the total Bloodlust value on all of your Gladiators. If this total meets or exceeds the value on the top Boast card, take a Reigning Champion token, if one is available, and place it next to your player board.
You may take a 2nd Reigning Champion Token if the total sum of Bloodlust on your Gladiators meets or exceeds the Bloodlust value of the top Boast Card, and you have taken a Reigning Champion Token on a previous turn. Don't take 2 Reigning Champion tokens on the same turn.
If you have the Crowd's Favor, check to see if both Reigning Champion tokens have been taken. If so, an Arena Phase begins after this step. If not, proceed to the next player's Machinations Turn. If you do not have the Crowd's Favor, simply proceed to the next player's Machinations Turn.
Arena Phase Summary
Each Arena Phase consists of the following steps, in the following order:
- Late Registration
- Fight Battle
- Resolution
Players move through the steps of the Arena Phase together, unlike the Machinations Phase where players alternate taking Machinations Turns.
Remember that you can buy your Reserve back at absolutely any time.
Arena Phase Details
1. Late Registration
- Player next in turn order after player with Crowd's Favor starts.
Players take turns as follows:
- Take turns placing Gladiators into the Arena at a cost of 3 Coin each.
Each player gets exactly one turn to late register. On your turn, play as many Gladiators as you want to from your Hand to the Arena. You must pay 3 Coin for each Gladiator you play in this manner. Influence rules apply as usual (see Influence section on page 18). Remember that Income Cards and Coin Tokens can be used interchangeably and in combination with one another any time you spend Coin.
Once every player has had one turn to Late Register, move on to Fight Battles.
2. Fight Battle
All players fight simultaneously in one free-for-all battle, in just one Arena.
Determine Initiative.
Add up the Agility values (taking into account any modifiers) of all of your Gladiators in the Arena. Compare that total to your opponents' totals. The player with the highest total Agility value gains the Initiative. In the case of a tie, the player with the Crowd's Favor gains the Initiative. If the tie is between players who all do not have the Crowd's Favor, then the player closest to the Crowd's Favor in reverse turn order gains the Initiative. In other words, if the player after the player with the Crowd's Favor in turn order is tied with the player before the player with the Crowd's Favor in turn order, the player before the player with the Crowd's Favor gains the Initiative.
Take Combat Turns in clockwise turn order.
Starting with the player with the Initiative, take Combat Turns in clockwise turn order until there are no Ready Gladiators in the Arena. Then either proceed to the Ready Gladiators and Redetermine Initiative step or to the End of Battle step.
On your Combat Turn, you may take the following 2 actions once each, in either order:
- Attack (You must Attack if you have a Ready Gladiator.)
- Tactic (You may use 1 Tactic before, after, or without an Attack.)
Reaction Window: see the Reaction Window section on page 26.
Attack
- Exhaust the Gladiator (by turning it so that it is horizontal relative to you).
- Resolve any "When [Gladiator name] attacks" Reactions (see Reaction Window section on page 26). This Reaction Window Resolves and closes before Attack Damage is dealt. If this Reaction Targets a Gladiator, it does not have to Target the Gladiator that is dealt Damage by this Attack.
- Deal Attack Damage (see Damage section on page 26). Deal Damage equal to the Attacking Gladiator's Attack value to a single opposing Target Gladiator (Attacker chooses). You may not split up Damage.
Tactic
Use a Tactic. Either play a Tactic Card from your Hand, or declare that you are using a Tactic Ability on a card that is in play. See the Tactic Cards and Tactic Abilities section on the next page for more information. Complete these steps in this order:
- Declare which Tactic Ability you are using, or reveal the Tactic Card from your Hand.
- Pay any cost specified on the card in order to use the Tactic (such as Exhausting a card).
Note: A cost to use a Tactic will be followed by the word "to." For example: "Exhaust Aedile to Draw a card..." - the part before "to" is the cost, and the part after "to" is the effect of the Tactic.
- Resolve Tactic effects. Do what the Tactic says. Damage dealt by a Tactic works just like Damage dealt by a Gladiator's Attack.
- Place the Tactic Card on top of your Discard Pile (if you played a Tactic Card). Using a Tactic Ability on a Gladiator, Patron, or Arena Card does not cause that card to be Discarded.
You don't have to do both actions (Attack and Tactic) on a given Combat Turn.
You cannot do either action twice in a single Combat Turn. In other words, you can never use 2 Tactics in a single Combat Turn or Attack twice in a single Combat Turn. If all of your Gladiators are Exhausted, you can still use a Tactic, but you may not be able to Attack with a Gladiator. Similarly, if you have no Tactics available, you can still Attack with a Gladiator, but you will not be able to use a Tactic.
Keep taking Combat Turns until there are no Ready Gladiators in the Arena. In other words, at the end of a Combat Turn, if all Gladiators in the Arena are Exhausted, proceed to the Ready Gladiators and Redetermine Initiative step or to the End of Battle step.
Tactic Cards and Tactic Abilities
Scan note: the booklet's heading and opening text for this box are not printed on the scanned page. The card examples below are transcribed from the scan; where the small print on an example card is not legible at scan resolution, the card is named without its text.
Pierce is a Tactic Card. Its card text reads: "Deal 1 damage to a target gladiator. If that gladiator is defeated during this combat turn, you may pay 2 coin to return Pierce to your hand." Its Coin Cost is 1.
The booklet shows three cards with Tactic Abilities:
- A Gladiator Card with a Tactic Ability: Spiculus (Gladiator). Its Tactic Ability is printed in its text box (not fully legible at scan resolution).
- A Patron Card with a Tactic Ability: Praetor (Patron). Its Tactic Ability reads: "Tactic: Exhaust Praetor to deal 1 damage to a target gladiator."
- An Arena Card with a Tactic Ability: an Arena card (Falcon Nest) with Tactic Abilities printed in its text panels. The printed text on this card is not fully legible at scan resolution, so it is not transcribed.
Damage
When Damage is dealt for any reason, complete the following steps, in this order:
- Assign Damage. Place a number of Damage Tokens equal to the Damage being dealt above the Gladiator or Gladiators that are being dealt Damage.
- Reaction Window. See the following Reaction Window section for explanation.
- Resolve Damage. Take all Damage Tokens that are currently Assigned and place them on the Gladiator Cards to which they are Assigned. Damage that has Resolved on a Gladiator is considered to be on that Gladiator. Damage on a Gladiator remains on that Gladiator until that Gladiator is Defeated, or until the end of an Arena Phase.
Only Damage that has been Assigned but not yet Resolved can be Prevented or Reassigned. On the other hand, only Damage that has already Resolved can be Moved or Removed.
Reactions can deal additional Damage, Reassign Damage, or Prevent Damage. All Damage that is currently Assigned at the beginning of the Resolve Damage step Resolves simultaneously, no matter how it was Assigned, or whether it was Reassigned or not.
(The booklet illustrates Assigned Damage as Damage Tokens above a Gladiator, and Resolved Damage as Damage Tokens placed on the Gladiator card Gallus.)
Reaction Window
A Reaction is an effect that can only be used at particular times throughout the game. Each Reaction has a Triggering Effect clause, which begins with the word "when." This tells you what needs to happen in order to open a Reaction Window in which you can use this particular Reaction. "When Damage is assigned" is the most common Triggering Effect clause.
During a Reaction Window, all players may use any number of Reactions with a Triggering Effect that matches the Triggering Effect that opened the Reaction Window.
When a Reaction Window opens, starting with the active player, players take turns in turn order using 1 Reaction at a time, until all players pass in a row. Once all players pass in a row, the Reaction Window is closed, and no more Reactions can be used.
If you have more than 1 Reaction that you want to use during a Reaction Window, you may choose the order in which you use them.
A Reaction can be a Reaction Card, or a Reaction Ability in the text box of a Gladiator, Patron, or Arena.
A non-Reaction Card with a Reaction Ability in its text box must already be in play in order to use its Reaction Ability. You cannot use its Reaction Ability from your Hand.
Note: "When a Gladiator attacks" refers specifically to the moment that the Gladiator Exhausts, before it deals Attack Damage. The resulting Reaction Window will open and close before Attack Damage is assigned.
Reaction Cards and Reaction Abilities
The booklet shows the Counterattack card as its Reaction example. Its card text reads, as far as legible at scan resolution: "When damage is assigned, reassign up to 3 damage from a target gladiator to another target gladiator."
The booklet also shows three examples of cards with Reaction Abilities: a Gladiator Card (Arbelas), a Patron Card (Vestalis), and an Arena Card. Their Reaction Ability text is not fully legible at scan resolution, so these card texts are not transcribed here.
Defeating a Gladiator
When the total Damage on a Gladiator is equal to or greater than its Health, that Gladiator is Defeated. When a Gladiator you own is Defeated, immediately place it on top of your Discard Pile.
Insurance
When a Gladiator you own is Defeated, take 1 Coin Token from the Coin Token Supply and add it to your personal Supply (this represents a payout from your Gladiator insurance policy).
Note: It is possible for multiple Gladiators to be Defeated simultaneously. Sometimes this results in an Arena Battle ending in a tie.
Example: Since the Resolved Damage (3) on Samnite is equal to his Health value (3), Samnite is Defeated.
Ready Gladiators and Redetermine Initiative
If more than 1 player each have at least 1 Gladiator remaining in the Arena, then Ready all Gladiators in the Active Arena, and continue the Battle by going back to the Determine Initiative step, then take Combat Turns in clockwise turn order again. Note that, when determining Initiative at this point, the player who had the Initiative at the beginning of the Battle may not have the Initiative this time, as some Gladiators may have been Defeated. Do not Remove Damage from Gladiators when Readying Gladiators at this point. Repeat the process until only 1 player has any Gladiators remaining.
End of Battle
At any time, if you are the only player with at least 1 Gladiator in the Arena, then you immediately win the Battle.
Resolution
- If you win the Battle in the final round of the game, then you win the game!
- After a Battle in any round other than the final round, players take rewards depending on their placement in the Battle as follows, and in this order:
3-Player Game
- 1st Place: Take the top 2 Arena Cards, and add them to your Villa. Also take the top Boast Card and place it into your Discard Pile.
- 2nd Place: Take the next 1 Arena Card, and add it to your Villa.
- 3rd Place: Take the Crowd's Favor token (or keep it if you already have it).
4-Player Game
- 1st Place: Take the top 3 Arena Cards, and add them to your Villa. Also take the top Boast Card and place it into your Discard Pile.
- 2nd Place: Take the next 2 Arena Cards, and add them to your Villa.
- 3rd Place: Take the next 1 Arena Card, and add it to your Villa.
- 4th Place: Take the Crowd's Favor token (or keep it if you already have it).
Boast Cards
When a Boast Card is in your Deck, it acts as a Scheme Card that does nothing. Its Bloodlust value is irrelevant while it is in your Deck. You may play a Boast card during your Machinations Turn to boast in real life, but the card has no effect on the game.
Ending a Battle in a Draw
If more than one Gladiator is Defeated simultaneously, and multiple players lose their last Gladiator simultaneously as a result, the Crowd's Favor acts as the tie breaker. The player with the Crowd's Favor takes the better place in the standings. If none of the tied players have the Crowd's Favor, then the closest of the tied players, counting in reverse turn order from the Crowd's Favor, takes the better place in the standings. In other words, the tie first goes to the player with the Crowd's Favor, then to the player to her right, then to the player to that player's right.
Return all Gladiators to Discard Piles.
The winning player puts all Gladiators that remain in the Arena on top of their Discard Pile.
All Players refill Hands to 7 cards without Discarding. You may not voluntarily Discard cards during the Arena Phase.
Arena Abilities
As your Gladiators win battles, they will become stronger, better fighters. Each Arena Card has an ability printed on it.
You have permanent access to all abilities on the Arenas you have won.
Some Arena Abilities are static abilities that apply constantly. Other Arena Abilities are Tactic Abilities or Reaction Abilities. Those are used the same way as other Tactic or Reaction Abilities (such as those on Patrons or Gladiators). Other Arenas have free action abilities. These are similar to Tactics, but can be used any time and do not count as Tactics.
The booklet's example card, Casinum, provides both a static ability and a Tactic Ability. Its text, as legible at scan resolution: "You may reserve Gladiators." and "Tactic: Exhaust Casinum to put a Gladiator from your hand into the active Arena."
Return to the Machinations Phase
After resolution of the Arena Phase, in all but the final round of the game, play proceeds to the next round, starting again with the Machinations Phase. Machinations turn order is not affected by the Arena Phase, so the player after the player who had the Crowd's Favor last round goes first. In other words, don't skip anyone's Machinations turn.
Winning the Game
The player who wins the Battle during the final round of the game wins! The winner will be immortalized by history, while the losers will be forgotten.