Hemloch: Vault of Darkness Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• The Cards
  • Minion Cards
  • Servitor Cards
  • Leader Cards
  • Item Cards
• Playing the Game
  • A Week in Hemloch
  • Night Reveal
  • Spoils Reveal
  • Spoils Used
  • Using Spoils and Playing Minions
  • Spoils and Minions Example
  • Night's End
  • Ending the Week and Seizure
  • Seizure Example
  • Ending the Week and Seizure (Continued)
• Ending the Game and Influence
  • Influence Example
• Additional Content
• Shadow of the Sun

Components

Components list (as printed):

• 10 Spoils
• 44 Minons
• 8 Servitors
• 18 Items
• 8 Days/Nights
• 4 SotS Locations
• 1 Supremacy Card
• 4 SotS Reminders
• 4 Agendas (Optional)
• 4 Locations (Double Sided)
• 8 Leaders
• 44 Markers

Setup

The Long Night is ending, and you have precious little twilight remaining to assert your House's dominance over the city's 4 Districts. In 8 nights, the sun rises, and in that time, you must use the Spoils of the Vault of Darkness to draw as many minions to your side as you can, while thwarting the rival House's plans.

Set the Minion, Servitor, Leader, and Item cards in separate stacks to the side of the play area.

Take 2 Courtesan, Ghoul, Alchemist, and Darkened cards, shuffle them together, and deal 4 cards to each player face down, forming the players' Cohorts.

Each player takes all 12 Markers of a single color and places them in his play area and place the remaining 24 Markers to the side of the play area (these are the Supporting Markers).

Place the 4 Square District cards in a row in the middle of the play area. (These are 2 sided, begin your first game with the Black Text side).

Shuffle together the 10 Spoils cards and place them in a face down deck to the side of the play area.

Shuffle together the 8 Night cards and place them in a face down deck to the side of the play area.

The oldest player takes the Supremacy Card and the game begins.

The Cards

Several different types of cards are used in Hemloch: Vault of Shadows.

District Cards. H:VoS revolves around playing cards to add your Markers to the 4 different District cards. Each District card represents a unique District in the city of Hemloch. Each district card has several parts: Influence spaces (A), Home Minion Icon (B), Scheme (C) and Scheme Minion Icon (D).

Night Cards. There are 8 different Night cards. These cards are used to keep track of Nights, Weeks, and when Districts are Seized and how much they are worth. Each Night card depicts a District and how many Markers the player who Seizes it gets to place.

The game is played of a series of 2 Weeks, and each Week contains 4 Nights. Once all 8 Night cards have been revealed, the game ends.

Spoils Cards. These 10 cards represent Spoils from the Vault of Shadows. Players use these cards to bribe Minions to play on the Districts and to gain powerful abilities. Each Spoil is unique and is used to bribe different Minions and offers a unique ability.

Each Night, the Spoils are shuffled and 5 are revealed, making the options available to the players each Night slightly different.

Minion Cards

There are 5 different types of Minions: Courtesans, Ghouls, Darkened, Alchemist, and Masqued. Through the use of Spoil cards and Schemes, players play, discard, and manipulate these cards on the Districts.

Each Minion also has a Home, which is listed on the card, and corresponds to the Home Minion Icon on its Home District card. Note that Masqued Minions do not have a Home District and count as a Home Minion when placed in a District and never trigger Schemes.

Servitor Cards

Servitors are a special kind of Minion. They do not have a Home District, and are only obtainable through certain actions.

However, Servitors trigger the Scheme of whatever District they are played on.

Leader Cards

Leader cards represent Minions that are above your average rank and file. Each Leader has a Home District. Leaders must be played in their Home District and there may never be more than 1 Leader in any given District.

Leaders never trigger Schemes, but are worth 3 Minions when deciding who will Seize a District and generate the placement of additional Markers at the end of the Week.

Item Cards

There are 3 different types of Item cards: Scepters, Potions, and Trinkets. These cards are obtained through the use of Spoils and Schemes. Each of the 3 Items offer a special, single use Item Ability.

As they are used, they are flipped face down. Face down Items are returned to the supply at the end of each Week.

At the end of the game, each player scores 1 point for each Item he has.

Playing the Game

Hemloch: Vault of Shadows revolves around asserting influence, and gaining wealth, power, and support throughout the city. The game is played over a series of 2 Weeks, each comprised of 4 Nights. Each Night, 5 Spoils are revealed, and players alternate taking Actions. Once 4 Night cards are revealed, those Districts are Seized (scored) and players add Markers. The game ends at the end of the second Week, with each player scoring Influence for his placed Markers, Cohort, Items, and Support. The player with the most Influence wins and rules the city in the upcoming time of Perpetual Sunlight.

A Week in Hemloch

Each Week in Hemloch is broken down into 4 Nights, and each Night is broken into several parts, taken in this order:

• Night Reveal: The top card of the Night deck is revealed
• Spoils Reveal: The Spoils are shuffled and the top 5 cards are revealed
• Spoils Used: The players alternate using Spoils
• Night's End: Players receive 1 Special Action and the Night ends

If 4 Night cards have been revealed, at the end of the fourth Night, a Seizure takes place, and the Districts are scored. If 2 Weeks have not already taken place, a new Week begins, otherwise the game ends.

Night Reveal

The topmost card of the Night deck is revealed and placed to the right of the Night deck. As the Week progresses, future revealed Night cards are placed to the right of any previously revealed Night cards for that Week.

Spoils Reveal

The Spoils are shuffled together and the top 5 Spoil cards are revealed and placed in plain view of each player.

Spoils Used

Beginning with the player with the Supremacy Marker, each player uses 1 revealed Spoil. Each player then, beginning with the player with the Supremacy Marker, uses 1 revealed Spoil. Used Spoils are placed back on top of the Spoils deck. Once each player has used 2 Spoils, the remaining Spoils card is placed on the top of the Spoils deck.

Using Spoils and Playing Minions

Each Spoil card grants the player using it a Minion that he places on his side a District. Additionally, each Spoil also offers a Special Ability.

This occurs in this order: the Minion is obtained from the side of the play area and placed on the player's side of any District of his choice. The Spoils' ability is followed to the best of the player's ability. If placing the Minion triggered the District's Scheme, the Scheme ability is then used to the best of the player's ability. Spoils' Abilities and District Schemes are not optional. Some of these abilities are more helpful at certain times, and others are powerful, yet tricky to use.

There are some restrictions and exceptions regarding playing Minions:

• If a player would receive a Minion of a certain type, and there are no cards of that Minion's type remaining to the side of the play area, he instead takes a Servitor.
• Servitors do not have a home, and are never worth 2, however they trigger the Scheme of whatever District they are played in.
• Masqued Minions are wild, and always count as a Home Minion.
• A Leader must be played in its Home District. There can never be more than 1 Leader in any given District.

Spoils and Minions Example

In this example, Jeb has chosen to use the Gemmed Bauble. Since Jacki has already played a Leader on her side of The Spires, he cannot gain and play a Leader there (1 of the Spoils' 2 options for gaining Minions), so he gains an Alchemist and places it on his side of the Spires (he could have placed it on any of the Districts, but he has a plan to have more Minions in the Spires than she does, and since the Spires is the home of the Alchemist Minions, that Alchemist will be worth 2 Minions when the District is Seized).

He then gains 1 Potion from the side of the play area, which is the Spoils' special ability.

He then places the Gemmed Bauble on top of the Spoils deck.

Night's End

When each player has used 2 Spoils, each player, beginning with the player with the Supremacy Marker gets 1 Special Action. With each Special Action, the player may:

• Use the ability of a Trinket, Potion, or Scepter he has obtained. Once the ability is used, the Item is flipped face down.
• Add 1 Minion from the side of the play area to his Cohort.
• Play 1 Minion from his Cohort to his side of any District.

Note that during Night's End, no District Schemes can be triggered.

After each player has used a Special Action, if 4 Night cards have not been revealed, the Supremacy Marker is given to the other player, and a new Night begins.

Ending the Week and Seizure

At the end of a Night, if there are 4 revealed Night cards, the Week ends and Seizure takes place.

During Seizure, the Districts on the revealed Night cards are Seized (or scored) one at a time, in the order they were revealed for the Week.

Beginning with the first Night card, each player counts the number of Minions on his side of the District. Each Minion that is in its Home District, and Masqued Minions, are worth 2 Minions. Leaders are worth 3 Minions. All other Minions are worth 1 each.

The player with the most Minions on his side of the District places a number of his Markers indicated by the Night card on any unoccupied Influence space(s). In the case of a tie, both players place Markers, beginning with the player with the Supremacy Marker. Then, any player with a Leader on his side of the District places 1 of his Markers. In the event that there are no unoccupied Influence spaces, the player takes a Supporting Marker from the side of the play area and adds it to his collection of unused Markers. The Night card is then moved to the side of the play area and is no longer used this game.

Repeat the above process for the remaining 3 revealed Night cards.

Seizure Example

In this example, the Night card depicts The Boneyard and is worth 2 Markers. Jeb, the orange player, has a total of 5 Minions (his Ghoul is in its Home District, so it is worth 2, his Masqued is also worth 2, and his Alchemist is worth 1). Jacki, the blue player, has a total of 4 Minions (her leader is worth 3 and her Darkened is worth 1).

Jeb has more Minions in this District, so he Seizes the District.

He places 2 of his Markers on unoccupied Influence spaces.

Since Jacki has a Leader on her side of the District, she also gets to place a single Marker, which she does.

The Boneyard Night card is then moved to the side of the play area.

Ending the Week and Seizure (Continued)

Note that Supporting Markers that a player earns can never be used by the player, they are simply worth additional Influence at the end of the game. They represent other Houses' taking note of the player's power.

After each appropriate District has been Seized, each player returns any face down Item cards to the side of the play area.

Then, all Leaders are returned to the side of the play area.

Finally, for each District, if the player has more than 2 Minion cards on his side of that District (actual card count, not counting Home District bonuses), he must discard Minions from that District until he has 2 Minion cards in that District. Note that Servitor cards do not count toward this number.

If this was the first Week, a new Week begins. If this was the second Week, the game ends and players tally Influence.

Ending the Game and Influence

At the end of the game, players gain influence for several things.

Each Marker a player has placed is worth 1 Influence. Each Marker a player has placed that is touch at least 1 of his other Markers (orthogonally) is worth 2 Influence.

Each Item the player has is worth 1 Influence. The player with the most Items gains an additional 1 Influence.

Each card in the player's Cohort is worth 1 Influence.

Each Supporting Marker the player has is worth 1 Influence.

The player with the most Influence wins the game. In the event of a tie, the player with the most placed Markers wins.

Influence Example

In this example, Jacki, the blue player, has earned a total of 31 Influence.

She earned a total of 18 Influence from her placed Markers: she placed a total of 10 Markers, 2 of those Markers are not touching any of her other Markers, so they are worth 1 each, while her remaining 8 Markers are all touching at least 1 of her other Markers, making them worth 2 each. She gained 3 Supporting Markers, worth 1 each. She has 4 Items, worth 1 each. Her Cohort had 6 cards in it, each card was worth 1.

Additional Content

Each District card has a reverse side. Once players are familiar with the basic sides of the Districts, using the other side will offer new challenges and options. Each game, players can choose which side of each District will be used, allowing the game to be tailored to specific tastes.

The game also comes with 4 optional Agenda cards. At the beginning of the game, shuffle together the 4 Agenda cards and deal 1 to each player face down. Return the remaining cards to the box. Each of these cards offer 2 secret Agendas that the player can try to complete. He is awarded additional points at the end of the game for completing his Agendas.

Shadow of the Sun

Players who wish to use the components included in this box to play Shadow of the Sun may download the rules for that game at the following link: http://www.smallboxgames.com/rules_SotS.pdf