Heroes of Land, Air & Sea: Nomads Mini-Expansion
Heroes of Land, Air & Sea: Nomads Mini-Expansion Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
First, players choose which variant to play:
- If playing the Wandering Nomads variant, place 10 Nomads within reach of the players. You do not need the Nomads Mercenary Card; return it to the box. Also, shuffle the 6 Nomad Spell Cards into the Spell Deck.
- If playing the Mercenary Nomads variant, place 3 Nomads and the Mercenary Nomad Card within reach of the players. You do not need the other 7 Nomads, or the 6 Nomad Spell Cards; return those to the box.
Wandering Nomads Gameplay
At the beginning of each Action Selection Phase, before any players select Actions, the First Player (with the First Player Token) must place exactly 1 Nomad Unit on the game board:
- If there are no Nomads in any Regions on the board (including the first round), the player must place the Nomad in a Desert Region of their choice following the placement rules below.
- If at least 1 Nomad is in a Region on the board, the next Nomad must be placed in a Land Region adjacent to a Region with a Nomad in it (not in a Courtyard).
- ALL Regions adjacent to a Nomad yield 1 fewer Resource during Collection (except Nomads in a Courtyard).
Nomad Placement Rules
- Do not reveal Exploration Tokens when Nomads are placed in a Region.
- There can only be 1 Nomad per Region.
- Nomads may only be placed in empty Regions (no other Units/Structures).
- May take Ferry Routes to be placed in Regions on another Continent.
- If there are no Regions adjacent to Nomads without Units, and no Desert Regions available, then the Nomad may be placed in any empty Region on the board.
Battling the Nomads
An army may only enter a Region with a Nomad and Battle if the army's Strength is greater than the Nomad's. The Nomad's Strength is equal to the total number of Nomads on the board. For instance, if 3 Nomads are on the board, a Nomad has [Strength icon, showing 3].
Gain [purple token icon, showing 1] for starting this Battle, but no Tactic Cards are used. For the player, all Faction and Hero bonuses are still used in determining the army's Strength. Then, capture the Nomad and place it into the player's Courtyard.
Note on icons: the rulesheet's purple token (Gain 1) and the Strength icon in the "worth only" line are image glyphs that do not survive text extraction. The purple token is transcribed as the icon, and the Strength value in "worth only ... when defending the Capital City" is not legible in the rulesheet render, so it is left as the icon and not guessed.
Captured Nomads
Once in a player's Courtyard, Captured Nomads may be used one time to Follow or Muster an action as if they were Serfs. At the end of the round when the Action Bar is cleared, any Nomads used this way are returned to the Nomad supply, instead of the player's Courtyard.
Each Nomad in a Courtyard or on the Action Bar is worth only [Strength icon] when defending the Capital City as they are treated like a basic Serf. Nomads' Follow/Muster abilities may be used at anytime when appropriate. If left in a Courtyard at the end of the game, they are worth no Victory Points.
Wandering Nomads Solo Rules
For the first Nomad placement, place it into the unoccupied Capital City Region of the Continent in play which does not have the Enemy or the player (instead of placing in a Desert Region). At the beginning of each subsequent round, continue placing 1 Nomad adjacent to a Region that contains a Nomad but that does not contain any other Units. If at any point, there are no Nomads on the board, the player will place the next Nomad in any Desert Region that does not contain any other Units.
Before resolving the first Enemy Action Card each round, note the compass's arrow direction. The player will then move 1 Nomad of their choice one Region in the direction of that arrow. If no Nomads can make legal moves in the direction of the arrow, then choose any Nomad and move it to the first legal Region clockwise from the compass direction. Nomads may move using Ferry Routes.
A Nomad may be moved into a Region with other Units and if so, it results in a Battle (no VP is rewarded for starting this Battle). After the Nomad is moved and any Battle resolved, using the same rules of resolving a Battle as described in the Battling the Nomads section, the Enemy will continue with their turn and use their Action Card.
If you lose a Battle against a Nomad, take damage and retreat your Units as you would losing a normal Battle. If the Enemy defeats a Nomad in Battle, they gain [purple token icon, showing 1] and the Nomad is captured and placed in the Enemy's Courtyard. If you defeat a Nomad in Battle, gain [purple token icon, showing 1] and the Nomad is captured and placed in your Courtyard.
If any Captured Nomad(s) are in the Enemy Courtyard, after the Enemy has taken its 3rd action it will draw and resolve a 4th Action Card. This 4th Action Card will be performed by their 3rd (rightmost) Enemy Hero, as if they took a second action that round. Any Action (movement, spells, etc.) will be related to the 3rd Hero. After that 4th Action is resolved, 1 Nomad is returned to the general supply.
Do not add the Nomad Spell Cards to the Spell Deck for solo play.
Mercenary Nomads Gameplay
This variant requires the Mercenaries Mini-Expansion. When a player Recruits the Nomads Mercenary, that player receives all 3 Nomad Mercenaries. All 3 Nomads must be killed before they are returned to the general supply and available for recruitment again. If Nomads are "Fired," return all of the Nomads to the general supply. Refer to the Nomad's Mercenary Card for their specific abilities.
Note: the rulesheet refers to the Nomads Mercenary Card for "specific abilities" but does not reproduce them. The Mercenary Card's text is not included in this transcription.
Components
- 10 Nomad Miniatures
- 1 Nomads Mercenary Card
- 6 Nomad Spell Cards
Note: the text of the Nomads Mercenary Card and the 6 Nomad Spell Cards is not in this rulesheet and is not transcribed here.
Expansion Overview
The Nomads Mini-Expansion offers two different variants for Heroes of Land, Air & Sea:
1.) Wandering Nomads: This variant uses an army of 10 Nomads, playing as non-player-characters. The Nomads are placed on the board, one each round, by the players. They negatively affect the Regions they are adjacent to but can be captured by players for Victory Points and to gain extra "Follow" and "Muster" actions. If players ignore the Nomads, their army can grow to the point where they become hard to defeat. Managing the size of the Nomad army becomes a meaningful part of each player's strategy.
2.) Mercenary Nomads (requires Mercenaries Mini-Expansion): This variant uses only 3 of the 10 Nomads and the Nomads Mercenary Card. In this variant, the Nomads are available to all players to recruit but can only be used by one player at a time. They are Mercenaries with unique abilities that a player can recruit into their army. All 3 Nomads are Recruited together. If all 3 are killed, they return to the general supply and can be recruited again by any player.