Heroes of Might & Magic IV Collectible Card & Tile Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objectives
• Components
• Terrain Map Sections
• Card Types
  • Hero Cards
  • Unit Cards
  • Town Cards
  • Object Cards
  • Artifact Cards
  • Skill Cards
  • Spell Cards
• Army and Object/Town Tokens
• Setup
• Start of the Game
• Game Process
• Income Phase
  • Town Income
  • Mine Income
  • Additional Income
• Purchase Phase
• Movement Phase
  • Managing Armies
  • Movement Points and Terrain
  • Scouting Terrain
  • Towns
  • Creature Dwellings
  • Objects
• Chipping in for the Guard
• Battles
  • Attackers and Defenders
  • Tactical Deployment
  • Phases and Rounds
  • Making a Melee Attack
  • Making a Ranged Attack
  • Making Support
  • Grouping
  • Defense
  • Regrouping
  • Counterattack
  • Hero Retreat
  • Surrender
• Closing Phase
• Heroes, Levels, Skills and Spells
  • Buying Heroes
  • Heroes in Battle
  • Starting Skills of Heroes
  • Hero Level
  • Heroes and Spells
  • Heroes and Artifacts
  • Primary Magic Skills
  • Learning Spells
  • Casting Spells
  • Mana
• Terrain Map Sections with Underground
• Victory
• Game Variants
  • Team Play
  • Different Starting Forces
  • Pre-developed Heroes
  • Campaigns
• Advanced Rules
  • Morale
  • Luck
  • Flying Armies
  • Native and Special Lands
  • Distance Penalties
  • Buying Heroes of Other Factions
  • Resurrecting Fallen Heroes
  • Potions of Immortality
  • Resource Trading
  • Diplomacy
• Errata
• Turn Summary

Objectives

In this game you will occupy strategic locations, recruit diverse troops, learn powerful Spells, and defeat your opponents with the strength of your sword or the power of your magic. A side loses when it loses its last Army and its last Town. The last remaining side in the game is the winner. Additional objectives are presented in the advanced rules.

Components

Heroes of Might & Magic is a collectible card board game based on the classic computer game of the same name from Ubisoft. The box contains: a set of 7 Terrain Map Sections, 120 collectible cards, 180 Object tokens, 72 Town tokens, 48 Army tokens, and a 10-sided die.

Terrain Map Sections

Terrain Map Sections form the Game Board. These are interlocking pieces that can be connected in various ways, producing a new Terrain Map every game. When building the terrain map, players connect the pieces as shown in the illustration. Pieces may be rotated to either side, as long as the protruding part of one section fits exactly into the notch of another.

Card Types

There are 7 special card types in Heroes of Might & Magic: Heroes, Units, Towns, Objects, Artifacts, Skills and Spells. A description of each follows.

Hero Cards

Hero Cards represent a particular character in the game. These characters can belong to one of 11 classes. The classes are: Knight, Cleric, Death Knight, Necromancer, Lord, Wizard, Rogue, Sorcerer, Ranger, Druid and Barbarian. The example below lets you check the information shown on your Hero Card.

Card layout labels:

• Hero Name
• Hero Class
• Card Cost
• Melee Attack points
• Movement points
• Defense points
• Faction
• Description of starting Skills
• Skill icons
• Ranged Attack points
• Hero Portrait

Unit Cards

A Unit Card represents a military unit in the game. They are also called Creature Cards, and they are used to build Unit Stacks, which are the main force of your armies that you move across the game board. Unit Cards can be combined with other cards of the same type to form a Unit Stack for use in battle. That is, you will need several copies of identical Unit Cards in your deck. The example below lets you check the information shown on your Unit Card.

Card layout labels:

• Creature/Unit Name
• Card Cost
• Melee Attack points
• Movement points
• Defense points
• Faction
• Special abilities
• Card type
• Ranged Attack points
• Creature/Unit Portrait

Town Cards

Towns are the bases where you recruit both Heroes and Units. They are the main source of income for growing your armies. Towns also allow you to learn Spells of certain types, and grant special abilities whose strength increases as the Town develops. The example below lets you check the information shown on your Town Card.

Card layout labels:

• Card type
• Town image
• Town bonuses gained as the level grows
• Faction
• Town bonuses gained as the level grows
• Available Units
• Town type

Object Cards

Control over strategic objects is the key to a successful military campaign. Therefore, building your deck with useful Object Cards will be very handy. The example below lets you check the information shown on your Object Card.

Card layout labels:

• Card type
• Object name
• Object type
• Object effect
• Object image

Artifact Cards

As in all fantasy stories, this game has mighty Artifacts that your Heroes can collect. The right Artifact can be the key to defeating your opponents. Some less powerful Artifacts can be purchased in certain Towns. However, the most important Artifacts are considered precious treasures. Only Heroes who defeat the guardians can take possession of such Artifacts. The example below lets you check the information shown on your Artifact Card.

Card layout labels:

• Card type
• Artifact slots required
• Artifact name
• Artifact effect
• Description of Artifact slots
• Artifact image

Skill Cards

There are two types of Skill Cards in Heroes of Might & Magic. The first type is Primary Skills, which grant a Hero certain special abilities without any special requirements. The example below lets you check the information shown on your Primary Skill Card.

Card layout labels:

• Skill name
• Skill level indicator
• Skill effect when the card is turned
• Skill level indicator when the card is turned
• Skill type
• Skill effect

Note that a Primary Skill Card can be turned upside down to change the level from basic to advanced. When the level of mastery of the Skill becomes even higher, you discard this Primary Skill Card and play a new card of the same Skill at the Expert level. There are 5 levels of Primary Skill: Basic, Advanced, Expert, Master and Grand Master.

Secondary Skills are the second type of Skill Cards. Secondary Skills open up even more special abilities, but require the presence of a certain Primary Skill in order to be used. As the level of the Primary Skill it is based on rises, the effectiveness of the Secondary Skills based on it increases automatically. The example below lets you check the information shown on your Secondary Skill Card.

Card layout labels:

• Skill name
• Skill icon
• Skill effects
• Skill type
• Icon of the required Primary Skill

Note that the effects of this Secondary Skill Card depend on the level of the Skill in Tactics. Tactics is the Primary Skill required to use the Defense Skill.

Spell Cards

Spells are available only to those Heroes who hold a Primary Skill Card that allows them to use Spells of the corresponding school. For example, the Primary Skill Card shown above allows a Hero to use Chaos Spells of level 1 when the Skill is basic, and Chaos Spells of level 2 when the Skill is advanced.

The Spell card shown below is a level 3 Chaos Spell and therefore cannot be used until the Hero advances in Chaos magic to the Expert level.

Card layout labels:

• Spell name
• Spell level and type
• Icon of the required Primary Skill
• Spell cost (mana)
• Spell effect
• Spell icon

Army and Object/Town Tokens

Cards and card stacks are not suitable for placing on hexes on the Terrain Map. That is why we use Tokens to mark them on the Game Board.

Army Tokens, Object Tokens and Town Tokens are shown together in the illustration.

As we can see, there are two Tokens of each type with identical numerical values. One of them is light and the other dark. By placing one of them on the cards (card stacks) and the other on the game board, we will know the location of the cards themselves on the board. Either light or dark Tokens may be used on the Cards or on the Game Board, as long as their numerical values and colors match.

Setup

The first thing the players must do is agree on the size of the Game Board. The starter set includes 7 interlocking Terrain Map Sections. You can play the game with a minimum of four Map Sections, and at most with as many Map Sections as you have available. More Map Sections can be obtained by buying additional starter-set Map Sections for your game. There are four different sets of Map Sections available in starter sets, and you may play with as many Map Sections as you wish. However, remember that the more Map Sections you use, the longer your game session will last.

The next step is for each player to choose the cards that will be used in the game. Each player's deck must contain at least 40 cards. The maximum number of cards in your deck depends on the number of Terrain Map Sections used in your game. Each player's deck may contain 10 cards for each Terrain Map Section used in building the Game Board. You may use any combination of cards, but be sure to include the cards that will make up your "Starting Forces".

Starting Forces must include 1 Hero, 1 Town, 3 Level 1 Units, 2 Level 2 Units and 1 Level 3 Unit. All of these cards must be of the same Faction. See the images shown below. On each card we have highlighted the Faction mark.

Hero Card / Town Card / Unit Card

Take these cards out of your deck and place the Town Card face up on the table. Place the remaining Starting Forces cards in a stack next to it, making sure your Hero Card is on the very top.

The group of Unit Cards under your control is your Army Stack. Shuffle the remaining cards and place them on the table next to you, face down, thereby forming your draw deck. You will use this deck throughout the game. Next to it will lie a Discard Pile, face up. When the cards in your deck run out, you shuffle the cards from the Discard Pile and use them as your draw deck.

Start of the Game

Now that each player has Starting Forces, take the Terrain Map Sections you will use for the game, turn them face down and shuffle them.

The youngest player makes the first move, and then the turn passes to the next player clockwise. The first player chooses one of the Map Sections and turns it face up. The next player does the same and connects his section to the one already turned up. Sections must be joined using interlocking pieces (as described above in "Terrain Map Sections"). Play continues in the same manner until all Map Sections have been turned face up and joined together.

Once the Game Board is assembled, the next player in turn draws 8 cards from his draw deck into his hand and places 5 of them on the table as a stack, face down. This will be his Risk Stack. The remaining 3 cards will form the player's Hand. The cards in the player's Hand are used in the game as currency. When you buy a Unit or otherwise spend currency during the game, you will need to discard cards from your Hand. When you receive currency from income each turn or find treasure during the game, you will need to draw cards into your Hand. The Risk Stack is an addition to the player's Hand. Each time it is your turn to play a card, you may play it either from your Hand or from your Risk Stack. The only difference between the cards in your Hand and the cards in your Risk Stack is that cards from the Hand may be discarded as payment for currency, while cards from the Risk Stack may not be discarded for this purpose.

Now that you have determined the cards for your Hand and your Risk Stack, place an Army Token on your Army Stack and the corresponding Token on the Game Board. Army Tokens are numbered round markers bearing the picture of a horse's head. These Tokens must be placed on the edges of the Game Board and cannot be placed on hexes with impassable terrain (water, volcanoes, lava, mountains, cave walls, etc. – see the Terrain Map legend). When you place your first Army Token, remember that your primary objective is to reach the Town area, so try to position your Token in the most advantageous spot for accomplishing this task. When you have placed your Army Token, the turn passes to the next player in turn. When all players have set up their Hands and Risk Stacks and placed their Army Tokens on the Game Board, the main game process begins, and the turn passes to the next player in turn.

Game Process

During the main game process, each player in turn will carry out the game sequences listed below, and then end the turn. After that, the next player in turn begins his turn. Such turns continue until one of the players fulfills the conditions for victory (see the "Victory" section). The sequences within a turn are described below:

1. Income Phase: A) Draw one card for each Town under your control. B) Draw cards according to the bonuses listed on your Skill Cards (if any).
2. Purchase Phase: A) Buy Units from your Hand that are available in Towns under your control, discarding their cost as payment. B) Place Units bought in Towns on the Game Board.
3. Movement Phase: A) Divide your Armies into smaller ones, if necessary. B) Move some or all of the Armies under your control.
   1. Identify Towns, Creature Dwellings or Objects that fall within the Sight Radius of the unit you are moving.
   2. Capture Towns, Creature Dwellings or Objects whose territory you enter. Recruit Units from Creature Dwellings your Army has visited, once their guards have been defeated.
   3. Attack enemy Armies or Towns whose territory you enter.
4. Closing Phase: A) Place one card from your Hand into your Risk Stack. B) Draw one card into your Hand.

Income Phase

Town Income

If you have a Town under your control, draw 1 card into your Hand. This is the income from that Town for the turn. At the very start of the game you set aside a Town Card for yourself. This is the so-called "free" Town Card. However, it is NOT yet under your control. See the "Movement Phase" section for instructions on how to place and take control of your "free" Town Card.

Mine Income

You may draw an additional card if you have under your control an Object Card for a Strategic Object whose description states this. For example, the Object Card "Alchemist's Lab" entitles you to draw 1 card in each Income Phase. This is your income for controlling the Alchemist's Lab.

Additional Income

Some Towns can be developed to a level where they allow you to receive additional income. Also, there are Units that pay "Tolls". Some Skills that your Heroes can learn will, again, allow you to receive additional income. Each such card carries a corresponding description.

Purchase Phase

If you have a Town under your control, in this Phase you may purchase Units in it. Different Units are available at different levels of Town development. When new Towns are placed, they automatically become Level 1 Towns. The Token on the Town Card is placed in the area shown in the illustration below.

If you already had a Town under your control and it was Level 1, you may buy Bandits or Orcs in it during the Purchase Phase. If the Town was Level 2, in addition to Orcs or Bandits you may also buy Medusas. At Level 3 the Town can supply you with Ifrits, Medusas, Orcs and Bandits. At Level 4, Black Dragons, Ifrits, Medusas, Orcs and Bandits become available.

To buy a Unit, take the Unit Card you want from your Hand (or from your Risk Stack) and place it under the Town Card. Then you must discard a number of cards equal to the cost of the Unit Card you bought. The cost of a Unit Card is shown in the black square in the upper right corner of the Unit Card. See the example in the illustration above in the "Unit Cards" section.

If you want to raise the level of a Town Card under your control, you may also do so in the Purchase Phase. Simply discard a number of cards equal to the Town's level +1. For example, if you want to upgrade a Level 1 Town to Level 2, you must discard 2 cards. If you want to upgrade a Level 2 Town to Level 3, you must discard 3 cards, and so on. Each Town may be upgraded only once per turn. As soon as a Town is upgraded, move the Token on the Town Card to the corresponding level mark.

Town Cards are useful not only for producing Units. For example, when the Town Card shown in the illustration above is Level 1, a Hero who visits this Town can learn Level 1 Spells of Chaos, Nature and Death. However, if the Town is Level 3, that same Hero can learn Spells of the same schools, but of levels 3, 4 and 5. When the Town is Level 2, a Hero may buy Artifacts of the "Chaos" category in it. When the Town is Level 4, the standard Mana pool of all your Heroes doubles (see the "Heroes, Levels, Skills and Spells" section for more information on Spells, Skills, Artifacts and calculating your Hero's Mana pool).

It may happen that in the Town where you bought a new Unit during the Purchase Phase, an Army Stack is also present. You have a choice: place the newly bought Unit Card under the Town Card, or join it to your Army Stack, in which case, in the upcoming Movement Phase, this Unit can become part of the Army Stack and move along with it immediately.

Movement Phase

Managing Armies

Splitting: at the start of your Movement Phase you may split an Army Stack under your control into smaller parts, if necessary. Each player may control no more than 4 Armies at a time, so you will have to think carefully about each split. To split, simply take some number of Cards from your Army Stack and/or the Hero Card and place them next to each other as a new Army Stack. If the Army Stack contains a Hero, his Card must be on top of the Stack. If the Stack has no Hero, place on top the Unit Card with the highest Movement point value. Then place a new Army Token on top of the new Stack, as well as the corresponding Army Token on the Game Board in the same location as the previous Token.

Forming: if you have Unit Cards under a Town Card you control, you may form a new Army from some or all of the Unit Cards located there. To do so, simply form them into a new Army Stack and place a new Army Token on it, and place the corresponding Army Token on the Game Board, in this case on the spot where the Town is located, in which those Units were before forming the Army.

Merging: when two of your Armies occupy the same territory, they may exchange Units between themselves, allocate Units to form a new Army, or exchange Artifacts between their Heroes. However, performing any of these actions immediately ends the Movement Phase for each of these Armies. The only exception is when both Armies are in the same sector with an Enemy Army or with the Guardians of something. In that case the two Armies may merge into one and engage in battle with the Enemy Army or with the Guardians.

Movement Points and Terrain

In this way you may move some or all of the Armies under your control. Look at the Card on top of your Army Stack and note the numerical value of its Movement points per hex. The number of Movement Points (MP) is the amount your Army Stack may spend each turn. To move an Army, simply move the corresponding Army Token across the Game Board. Each hex on the Game Board has a particular terrain type.

Below is a copy of the Terrain Map legend, where you can determine which terrain type is shown in the hex you are interested in. The numerical value in parentheses indicates the number of Movement Points required to cross this terrain. A terrain type where a "X" appears instead of a number is impassable. Your Army may move exactly as far as its Movement Points allow. When the points run out, the Army stops at that spot until the next turn. At the start of the next turn, Movement Points are fully restored.

Scouting Terrain

As your Army moves across the Game Board, it may discover three types of icons on the Terrain Map: Towns, Creature Dwellings and Objects. Their icons are shown below.

Towns / Creature Dwellings / Objects

Each Army has a Sight Radius of 1. Some Heroes have a Skill that increases this radius. The Sight Radius is the distance at which your Army can identify which Town, Creature Dwelling or Object is nearby. When one of these icons falls within your Army's Sight Radius, follow the instructions below to identify what you have discovered.

Towns

Your "free" Town: if this is the first time in this game that you have approached a Town icon, you may identify this location by placing your "free" Town Card (the one you started the game with) face up on the table. Place a Town Token on it and the corresponding Token on the Game Board on the Town icon. Turn the Town Card sideways relative to the other cards, thereby showing that the Town is unoccupied. When your Army Token enters the area of this Town on the Game Board, turn the Town Card to its normal position, thereby showing that you occupy the Town.

Additional Towns: if this is not the first Town icon your Army passes, you will probably want to conquer another Town for yourself. If you have a Town Card in your Hand (or in your Risk Stack), you may identify this location by laying this Town Card in the central part of the table, placing it sideways (90 degrees relative to all others, though the exact angle does not matter), to show that the Town is unoccupied by anyone. Next, place a Town Token on the Town Card and the corresponding Token on the Game Board at the Town icon. Now your opponents must "chip in" for the guard (see "Chipping in for the Guard" below). When your Army enters the Town's location, it must first defeat the guard in order to capture the Town Card for you, so that you can place it in your part of the table in its normal position, showing that you have captured the Town.

Stolen intelligence: if an unidentified Town icon appears within your Army's Sight Radius, and you have no Town Card in your Hand or in your Risk Stack, or for some reason you simply do not want to identify the Town, your opponents have a chance to steal your intelligence. Starting with the player to your left and continuing clockwise, each player has the chance to use (or not) the opportunity to identify the discovered Town from their cards, from their Hand or from their Risk Stack. In that case, they are strongly advised NOT to reveal their "free" Town Card, if it has not yet been revealed. Once the Town is identified by any of the players, play continues as if it had been identified by the player who scouted that terrain.

Capturing a Town: at the moment a Town icon is identified by a Town Card, you must fight the Guard placed in it in order to capture it. If the Town was previously captured by another player, you will need to fight the Units or Army Stack that this player has in the Town, on the same hex. In either case, as soon as you defeat the Guard or the enemy troops occupying this Town, you may take this Town Card as your own. When you do, move the Town Card to your part of the table and replace the Town Tokens with Town Tokens of your color. If the Town's level was raised before it was captured, it stays at that level after the capture.

Creature Dwellings

Identifying Creature Dwellings: when your Army approaches a Creature Dwelling icon within its Sight Radius, you may identify this Dwelling. To do so, simply place on the table a Unit Card of your choice from your Hand or from your Risk Stack, face up. Make sure the Unit Card you chose has a numerical value in the cost square on the card. If there is an "X" there, that Unit Card cannot be used to identify a Dwelling. Once the card you chose is on the table, turn it sideways so that you can read the word "Swarm" on it. This helps distinguish this Card from a Guard Card (see "Chipping in for the Guard" below). Then place an Object Token on top of this Card and a matching Token on the Game Board at the Dwelling icon. After this, your opponents must chip in for the Guard.

Capturing Creature Dwellings: when your Army steps onto a hex with a Dwelling icon and it has been identified, you must defeat the Guard placed there before you can use this Dwelling. When Creature Dwelling Cards are captured by anyone, they remain lying sideways so that the "Swarm" label can be read, but make sure the Object Token placed on them is replaced with a Token of the color of the player who captured this Object. Once the Guard is defeated, the Creature Dwelling may sell you the Creatures shown on the Card that identifies this Dwelling. For example, if a Card of an Orc was chosen to identify the Dwelling, the Dwelling will sell only Orc Cards. Armies visiting a Dwelling may acquire Creatures from their Hand or Risk Stack in exactly the same way Creatures are bought in Towns. The difference is that Creatures bought in Dwellings are acquired in the Movement Phase, not in the Purchase Phase, and must be placed immediately into the Stack of the Army that visited them, without the option of placing them under a Town Card.

Stolen intelligence: if an unidentified Creature Dwelling icon appears within your Army's Sight Radius, and you have no Creature Card in your Hand or in your Risk Stack, or for some reason you simply do not want to identify the Creature Dwelling, your opponents have a chance to steal your intelligence. Starting with the player to your left and continuing clockwise, each player has the chance to use (or not) the opportunity to identify the Dwelling with their Creature Cards, from their Hand or from their Risk Stack. Once the Dwelling is identified by any of the players, play continues as if it had been identified by the player who scouted that terrain.

Objects

Identifying Objects: when your Army approaches a Strategic Object icon on the Game Board within its Sight Radius, you may identify this Object. To do so, take a Strategic Object Card or an Artifact Card from your Hand or Risk Stack and place it on the table face up. If it is a Strategic Object Card, turn it so that "Unclaimed" can be read on it. If it is an Artifact Card, its orientation does not matter. Place an Object Token on the card you chose and a matching Token on the Game Board, on the hex with the Object icon you are identifying. Now your opponents must chip in for the Guard (see below). When your Army enters the hex with the Object, you must defeat the Guard placed there before you can capture the Object or Artifact located there. Unlike Creature Dwelling and Town Cards, Object or Artifact Cards can be captured only by an Army Stack that contains at least one Hero. When an Object Card is captured, turn it to its normal position to show that it has been captured. If an Artifact Card is captured, place it under the Hero Card that captured it.

Capturing enemy Objects: if an Object icon has already been identified, you may bring your Army containing a Hero there and capture this Object for yourself. If an enemy Army or Guard is there, you will first have to defeat them before capturing the Object. Once you have captured an Object Card, move it to your side of the table and mark it with an Object Token of your color and a matching Token on the Game Board. When you capture an Artifact, simply place the Artifact Card face up directly under the Hero Card that captured the Artifact.

Stolen intelligence: if an unidentified Object icon appears within your Army's Sight Radius, and you have no Strategic Object or Artifact Card in your Hand or in your Risk Stack, or for some reason you simply do not want to identify the Object, your opponents have a chance to steal your intelligence. Starting with the player to your left and continuing clockwise, each player has the chance to use (or not) the opportunity to identify the Object with their Strategic Object or Artifact Cards, from their Hand or from their Risk Stack. Once the Object is identified by any of the players, play continues as if it had been identified by the player who scouted that terrain.

Chipping in for the Guard

When an Object, Creature Dwelling or Town icon is identified by one of the players, the players must chip in for a Guard. In this process, the player who identified the newly found icon is called the Identifying Player. The process is described below.

Determining the Guard Player: starting with the player to the left of the Identifying Player, each player in turn discards one card from their deck into the discard pile. This continues until the card being discarded is a Unit Card. The first player who turns up a Unit Card is the Guard Player, and sets that Unit Card aside.

Forming the Guard: after this, the Guard Player discards three more cards from their deck into the discard pile. If at least one (or several) of these Cards is a Unit Card of the same Faction as the very first card that was set aside, that Card (or Cards) is placed under the first one. This Stack is now called the Guard Stack. Turn the Guard Stack so that the Guard Player can read the word "Protect" on the card. This orientation shows that it is a Guard Stack and not Units from a Creature Dwelling.

Reinforcing the Guard: the Guard Player's next step is to add any Unit Cards from their Hand or Risk Stack to the existing Guard Stack, to reinforce it. However, all Unit Cards added in this way must be of the same Faction as the Units in the Guard Stack. Remember that the Guard Stack is NOT an Army Stack and does NOT belong to the Guard Player. It is simply a stack of wandering monsters, meant to repel any attempts to take control of the Object, Artifact, Town or Creature Dwelling it guards. If the Guard Player brings their Army to the hex with the Object to capture it, they are also obliged to defeat the Guard. In this case the Guard Player temporarily hands control of the Guard Stack to the player on their left, so that they do not control both Armies in the battle. If other players try to capture this Object, the Guard Stack in battle is controlled by the Guard Player.

Battles

Although battles are technically part of the Movement Phase, the battle process deserves its own Phase. The most interesting part of the Movement Phase is the moment when you bring your Army onto a territory (hex) where an enemy Army, Town or Guard Stack is located. That is the moment a Battle begins. After all, Heroes of Might & Magic is a war game, and victories in battle are exactly what the wars here are fought for!

Attackers and Defenders

In this case, the Attacking player is the one who brings their Army onto a spot where a Guard or enemy Army stands. The other side in the battle is then the Defender. Attackers usually have the advantage in battle, so you will certainly want to be the one who attacks! There is, however, an exception. Defenders gain the advantage in battle when an attempt is made to capture a Town. Towns are very difficult objects to attack, since they have fortifications and most of the battle must take place in a narrow space.

Tactical Deployment

Unlike most Collectible Card Games, Heroes of Might & Magic has a significant tactical element. When a battle begins, the Attacker deploys their forces first. To do so, they take their Army Stack and split it into Creature Stacks. Creature Stacks are groups of Unit Cards of one type. In battle, a Creature Stack acts as a single Creature. Your Army may have no more than 7 different Creatures or Creature Stacks.

Heroes in battle form a separate Creature and cannot be grouped into a Stack with other Heroes. For example, if the Army Stack contains 3 Bandits, 2 Orcs, an Ifrit, a Sorcerer Hero and a Rogue Hero, then in battle you will have only 5 different Creatures. But since in battle you may have up to 7 different Creatures or Creature Stacks, you may split your Bandits, or your Orcs, or both, until you have 7 Creatures on the battlefield. However, once the battle begins, you can no longer split or merge Creatures. When the Attacker's forces have been divided into Stacks, they must deploy them on the Melee or Ranged lines.

Melee Line: the Melee Line is the front line of Creatures in battle. Creatures/Creature Stacks positioned there are available for attack by enemy Melee Creatures. You may place as many Creatures on the front line as you wish. However, to place Creatures on the Ranged Line (the back line), there must be at least 3 different Creatures/Creature Stacks on your front line. In fact, if during the battle the number of different Creatures on the front line falls below three (for example, one of the Creatures is killed), one of the Creatures (Stacks) from the back line must move to the front.

Ranged Line: the Ranged Line in battle is considered the Rear. Creatures/Creature Stacks positioned there can only make Ranged attacks (or cast Spells) until they are moved to the front line. Most importantly, Creatures from the back line can be targeted only by Ranged attacks (or Spells). This is because the troops of the front line count as an Obstacle, for you and for your opponent. "Obstacle" is an important term, since some Units have special abilities that allow them to ignore Obstacles.

If a Creature has a special ability (such as Flying) that allows it to ignore Obstacles, that Creature may choose as its Melee attack target enemy troops positioned on the back line. In the same way, these special Creatures may make Melee attacks from the back line. However, doing so causes them to automatically move to the front line together with the attack.

Defender deployment: once the Attacker has placed their troops on the front and back lines, the Defender does the same. The ability to deploy last is one of the tactical advantages the Defender has. The example below shows how the card layout may look when both sides have deployed their troops and the battle is about to begin:

Front and back lines of Ranged and Melee troops:

BACK ROW / FRONT ROW / FRONT ROW / BACK ROW

Phases and Rounds

Battles in Heroes of Might & Magic are organized as a series of Battle Rounds. Each Battle Round is divided into Phases, of which there may be up to ten. In each Phase, first the Attacker and then the Defender attack each other. Each Unit Card and Hero Card has a "Phase" marking and a number next to it. The number shown there is the number of the Phase in which that Creature makes its attack in each Round.

When the battle begins, the Attacker attacks with all Creatures in Phase 1 and removes all casualties. Then the Defender attacks with all Creatures in Phase 1 and removes all casualties. After this, the battle moves to Phase 2. This sequence continues until all Creatures of the Attacker and Defender have made their attacks in their Phase. After that, the Round ends. After each Round ends, both the Attacker and the Defender have the option to Retreat or Surrender (see "Hero Retreat" and "Surrender" below). If neither side takes any of these actions that end the battle, the next Round begins, again from Phase 1. The battle ends if one side Retreats or Surrenders, or if all Creatures of one side have been destroyed.

Making a Melee Attack

To make a Melee attack, your Creature must be on the front line. You choose as target one of the Creatures on the front line of your opponent's troops, and roll the die. The result shown on the die is added to the attack value of the attacking Creature. If the resulting total is greater than or equal to the defense of the attacked Creature, your Creature kills the opposing Creature. Remove the top card from the opponent's Creature Stack. If the Creature's attack value + the die result is less than the defense value of the enemy Creature, you have not managed to inflict enough damage.

Attack with a Creature Stack: sometimes a Creature has more than one Unit Card in its structure. In this case, only the top Card in the Stack makes the attack. The other Units in the Creature Stack simply add their strength to the attack of the top Card. Each Unit under the top Card adds its level to the top Card's attack value. For example, if you have a Stack of three Golden Golems (which are Level 2 Creatures), the top Card may attack with its attack value of 3. However, you have 2 Level 2 Unit Cards under this Card, so the attack of your Golem increases to 7 (3+2+2=7).

Mass attack: sometimes you may want to attack more than one Creature from the target Creature Stack. This is called a "Mass attack". To do so, before rolling the die, declare how many cards in the target Stack you want to attack. Add up the Defense points of all the Cards you are attacking, and then roll the die. If the numerical value of your attack + the die result is greater than or equal to the total defense of the Cards you mass attacked, the mass attack succeeds. Remove (discard) the Cards you destroyed from the opponent's Stack. Of course, if the total defense of the Creatures was greater than the attack value + the die result, your attack had no effect.

Making a Ranged Attack

Making a Ranged attack is very similar to making a Melee attack. There are only a few differences. First, instead of adding the Melee attack value to the die result, you add the Ranged attack value. Second, a Creature making a Ranged attack may attack from either the front or the back line, and may attack enemy Creatures on either the front or the back line. And third, if the Ranged attack value of your Unit is 0, it cannot make Ranged attacks. Apart from these differences, the attack process is exactly the same as a Melee attack.

Making Support

Sometimes you may sacrifice the attack of one of your Creatures to strengthen the attack of another of your Creatures. To do so, simply declare that you are giving up the Creature's chance to attack in this Round, when its turn to attack comes. Then add together the level values of all the Creatures in the Stack. This will be the Support value of that Creature Stack. For example, take the same Stack of 3 Golden Golems we discussed earlier. These are Level 2 Units, so their Support value will be 6 (2x3=6). Now that you know the Support value of your Stack, simply declare which of your friendly Creatures this Stack will sacrifice its attack to support. Add this Support value to the attack value of the Creature being supported. This Support takes effect only on the next attack of the chosen Creature.

Suitable target: Creatures may give Support only for attacks on those Creatures they could attack themselves. For example, our Stack of 3 Golden Golems cannot give Support for an attack on an enemy Creature located on the back line. That is because Golden Golems have a Ranged attack value of 0 and cannot make Ranged attacks.

Casting Spells: some Units that cast Spells (such as Magi or Fairy Dragons) may cast attacking Spells, such as Fireball or Magic Fist. These Spells attack enemy targets. They should be treated as if they were any other kind of attack. Therefore, the levels of the Units under the top Card in a Stack of Spellcasting Creatures are added to the Spell's attack value of the top Card in that Stack. Likewise, other Creatures/Creature Stacks that sacrifice their attack to support Spellcasting Creatures add their attack values to the Spell's attack value just as they would with an ordinary attack.

Grouping

Suppose your Stack of 3 Golden Golems attacks a Monster with a defense value of 13. We calculated earlier that the attack value of the Golden Golem Stack is 7, so you would need to roll at least 6 on the die to strike with sufficient force. Instead, you may group your Golems. Grouping is, in effect, sacrificing your chance to attack in order to add this attack value to your next chance to attack. To do so, turn the Golem Stack so that the word "Swarm" can be read, and pass up the attack. When the Golems next get the chance to attack, calculate the Stack's attack value as usual, and then double it. Thus, instead of attacking with a value of 7, the Stack of 3 Golden Golems attacks with a value of 14, which kills the Monster (with a defense value of 13) even without the need to roll the die. In effect, Creature Stacks that group become the priority target for enemy attacks, since they become a threat. Therefore, grouping is a fairly risky action.

Defense

In some cases, a Creature's priority is to survive rather than to attack. For example, you enter battle with 6 Golden Golems and 6 Halflings. Your opponent has a good Melee line but makes almost no Ranged attacks. Since the Halflings have a Ranged attack value greater than 0, they can attack while on the back line. You place the Halflings on the back line as a single Stack. Then you split your Golden Golems into 6 separate Creatures, placing them on the front line. This will force your opponent to kill 4 of them before the Halflings reach the front line and become vulnerable to Melee attacks. By the time the Golden Golems' turn to attack comes in Phase 7, you also decide that the Golems are better used in this case not as an attacking force, but as a barrier separating your Halflings from the enemy Creatures.

So you sacrifice the Golems' attack to defend them. When a Unit goes on the defensive, it passes its current chance to attack, and its Card is turned on the table so that the word "Defense" (printed as "protect") can be read. In the defensive position a Unit adds the value of its level to its defense value. In this case, Level 2 Golden Golems add 2 to their defense value of 7. As a result, their defense becomes 9. When their turn to attack comes again, they return to their normal position, and you must again decide whether to attack with them, group them, defend, or sacrifice their attack to Support another friendly Creature.

Regrouping

A Creature Stack may also sacrifice its attack in order to move to a more advantageous position on the battlefield. This is usually done to move a Unit from the front line to the back line. However, sometimes it may make sense to do the reverse. Remember that a Unit on the back line automatically moves to the front line as soon as the number of different Creatures on the front line falls below three. Such automatic regrouping does not cost the Creature its chance to attack, so sacrificing an attack for this Maneuver is very rare.

Counterattack

In addition to its attacking Phase, a Creature/Creature Stack may also defend itself once per Round when attacked. This is called a Counterattack. However, in order to counterattack, the Creature must first survive the attack and have the ability to strike back. For example, Phase 3 has come in the Round, and a Bandit from the enemy front line attacks your Stack of three Golden Golems. The Bandit's Melee attack value is 1, the die result is 7, for a total of 8. This kills the top Card of the Golden Golem Stack. Now the remaining Golden Golems in the Stack may strike back. However, if it were Phase 6 and the attacker were an Orc, it would be better to attack the Orc at range. Since Golden Golems cannot attack at range, they would not be able to strike back.

This does not mean you cannot counterattack after surviving a Ranged attack. In fact you can, but a Ranged attack may be answered only with a Ranged attack. A Halfling Stack may counterattack after taking damage from a Ranged attack, because their Ranged attack value is above 0. This works both ways. Many Creatures, such as Cyclopes and Evil Eyes, have a higher Ranged attack value than Melee attack value. However, even in such cases, when a Creature Stack is attacked in Melee, it must respond using its Melee attack value. Creatures that cast Spells, such as Magi, cannot answer Ranged attacks. Magi have no Ranged value, although they attack with Spells at range. Nevertheless, no one can ever answer an attack from Spells such as Magic Fist, Lightning or Fireball.

Remember that a Creature may counterattack only once per Round. In large battles, when it is hard to remember who has counterattacked and who has not, use Tokens turned upside down or coins to mark Units that have already counterattacked. Make sure these markers are removed at the start of each Round.

Hero Retreat

A high rank has its privileges. In Heroes of Might & Magic all Heroes are captains or generals, as you prefer. Therefore, if a battle is not going too well, you may decide to retreat and fight another time. To do so, at the end of each Round, the attacker has the option to give up the battle and retreat with their Heroes. If they do so, the battle ends, all of their non-Hero Creatures are immediately discarded, and their Hero at the same moment moves to the nearest Town under their control.

Important: Heroes may not retreat if they are within four hexes of their nearest Town.

If the attacker does not intend to retreat, the defender receives the same option. If neither side retreats, each side may surrender (see below). If both sides want to continue the battle, they simply begin a new Round from Phase 1.

Surrender

If neither side retreats, first the Attacker and then the Defender may begin surrender negotiations. If either side decides to do so, the surrendering player makes an offer to the opponent. They may offer to discard any number of cards from their Hand (NOT from their Risk Stack) in order to pay for a safe withdrawal to their nearest Town. The opponent, in turn, may either accept or reject this offer. If the offer is accepted, the surrendering player moves their entire Army Stack to their nearest Town, and discards the promised number of cards from their Hand (NOT from their Risk Stack). Then the player who accepted the surrender draws the same number of cards into their Hand from their deck. This simulates the transfer of money from one side to the other.

Important: Guard Stacks cannot surrender, and cannot accept the surrender of an enemy Army. Armies defending Towns also cannot surrender.

Battles in Towns

When you are pursued by a more powerful enemy Army, the best decision is to retreat behind the fortifications of your Town in order to survive. This tactic works even better if you have many ranged Units that can take cover behind the walls and shoot the enemy before it comes close enough to tear you apart. Battles in Towns are fought the same way as all other battles, except that the Town's walls provide excellent protection for the defenders. There are some differences between battles in a Town and other battles:

Deployment: the Defender may place all of its Creatures on the back line, allowing the walls to play the role of the front line. It does not need to place Creatures on the Melee line. It places the Town Card where the melee troops would normally stand. The Town Card does not attack, but it can be attacked. The defense value of the Town is 10. The wall can be attacked only by Melee attacks. To breach the Town's walls, the Attacker must make a Melee attack together with a die roll and get 10 or more against the Town Card itself. A Town Card cannot be destroyed like an ordinary Unit, but a "Breach" can be made in the Town gates, or a "Sack" in the walls. When the Town Card takes damage for the first time, it should be turned to the Breach position. This means a small hole has been made in the Town gates, and the Defender must immediately place one Creature on the front line to close the Breach. When the Town Card takes damage a second time, a Sack is made in the Town wall. Turn the Town Card to the Sack position. In the case of a Sack in the wall, the Defender must immediately place at least two different Creatures on the front line.

Ranged penalties: the Town walls provide some protection to friendly Creatures on the back line against ranged attacks. While the walls are undamaged, all ranged attacks aimed at the Defender's Creatures on the back line deal only half damage. The walls are a one-way obstacle. No penalty applies to the Defender's Creatures shooting from behind the Town walls. When the walls have a Breach, instead of halving the Ranged attack value, the Attacker simply subtracts 1 from this value. Finally, the penalty disappears completely when the Town walls have a Sack. Remember that penalties are not applied to Spells from the Attacker or to attacks directed at Creatures on the defender's front line. Breaches and Sacks are repaired immediately after the battle ends.

Ignoring obstacles: Units that ignore obstacles do NOT ignore the Town walls, at least until a Breach has been made in them. This means you will have to attack the Town walls at least once before special Units can fly (or teleport) over the Town walls to deal melee damage to the Defenders. However, ranged Units with special abilities that allow them to ignore obstacles also ignore the ranged penalties described above.

Sallies from behind the Town walls: Defender Creatures located in the Town on the back line have the right to move to the front line without losing their chance to attack. They stay behind the walls while the enemy's attack Phases pass. Finally, when their Phase to attack comes, they may leave the Town walls for the front line and make their attack, which is most often devastating. However, in order to return behind the Town walls to the back line, they will later in the battle have to sacrifice their chance to attack.

No retreat and no surrender: Town defenders may not retreat or surrender. They must fight to the end.

Closing Phase

When the Movement Phase comes to an end, and all battles have been fought, it is time to pass the turn to the next player in turn, the one to your left. Before doing so, you must complete your turn. To do this, simply take one card from your Hand and place it into your Risk Stack. Then draw one card from your deck to replace it. Your turn is now over. If you have no cards in your Hand, you simply skip this Phase and pass the turn immediately.

Heroes, Levels, Skills and Spells

Up to now we have discussed in detail how Unit Cards are used in your Army Stacks, barely touching on the leaders of the Armies, your Heroes. Heroes are extremely important for winning the game. Only a Hero can capture an Object or Artifact. Often, Heroes can cast Spells or have useful Skills that strengthen the Units of your Army, allowing them to perform better in battle.

Buying Heroes

Heroes may be bought in Towns, just like Units. However, they can only be bought in Towns of the same Faction as the Heroes themselves. Therefore, a Knight Hero, whose Faction is Life, cannot be bought in the Town of Asylum, which belongs to the Chaos Faction. The cost of a Hero Card is shown in the black square in the upper right corner of the Card.

Heroes in Battle

In battle, Heroes act just like ordinary Units. The exception is that several Hero Cards cannot be grouped into one Stack in battle. This means that on the battlefield a Hero Card occupies an entire Creature slot. Since your Army in battle may have only 7 Creatures/Creature Stacks, you must be careful about how many Hero Cards you take into battle.

Starting Skills of Heroes

Heroes start with the starting Skills listed on their Card. Most Heroes have one Primary Skill and one Secondary Skill on their Card. Primary Skills listed on a Hero Card are always considered to be at the Basic level. Many Skills (such as Tactics and Defense) grant bonuses to friendly Units. When your Army has more than one Hero, the bonuses of such Skills do not stack. Friendly Creature Stacks receive the bonus of the Skill whose level is higher.

Hero Level

When a Hero first appears in the game, he has level 1. Like Towns, a Hero may raise his level during the game. However, unlike Towns, a Hero's level cannot be raised simply by spending money. Heroes gain levels by defeating opponents. After each battle in which a Hero took part, you may play 1 Skill card into his "inventory".

A Hero's "inventory" consists of Skill Cards, Spells and Artifacts placed directly under the Hero Card in the Army Stack. Skill Cards that are played must be played in a set order. For example, if you have a Knight Hero, his Card states that he starts with basic Tactics and basic Defense. This means that when he wins a battle, you may play a card of another Primary Skill at its basic level, or a Secondary Skill card based on Tactics (such as Defense or Attack). You may also play an advanced-level Tactics card. If you do so, remember that when playing this Card, the Tactics Card you already have is used, but turned over, since the advanced Tactics Skill is printed on the other side of the same Card. After a victory in battle, if there is no Skill Card available for study in your Hand (or Risk Stack), your Hero simply skips the opportunity to raise a Skill or gain a new one.

You will often need to track your Hero's level. To do this, look over your Hero's "inventory" and check the table below (counting starts from 1):

Card in the inventory	Level change
Secondary Skill Card	+1
Primary Skill Card (Basic)	+1
Primary Skill Card (Advanced)	+2
Primary Skill Card (Expert)	+3
Primary Skill Card (Master)	+4
Primary Skill Card (Grand Master)	+5
One of the Primary Skill Cards matching the Hero's starting Skills	-1

The Hero's level greatly increases the effectiveness of the Spells he can cast and, as you may have noticed earlier, is used as the Support value during battle.

Heroes and Spells

Many Heroes can cast Spells. In fact, magic plays a huge role in this game. However, in order to cast certain Spells, you must, first, master the Primary Skills required for such Spells, and second, visit a Town where you can learn these Spells.

Heroes and Artifacts

A Hero may carry many Artifacts at once, but there is a limit. Each Artifact Card indicates which slot(s) it may be placed in. For example, the Artifact Card shown above (in the "Components" section) indicates that it occupies both hand slots, left and right. Thus, if this Artifact is used, the Hero cannot use other Artifacts placed in either of the two hand slots. Sometimes the description shows the word "or" above several slots. This means the Artifact may be placed in any one of the indicated slots. At any time a player may discard an Artifact Card occupying a slot they want to free.

Primary Magic Skills

The scheme is simple. To cast a Spell of Death you must possess the Primary Skill of Death Magic. In addition, your progress in Death Magic must match the difficulty of the Spells you are trying to cast. As mentioned earlier, Basic Chaos Magic allows a Hero to cast Level 1 Chaos Spells, while Advanced Chaos Magic allows him to cast Level 2 Chaos Spells. The levels and types of Spells you may cast are listed in the description on the Card of your Primary Skill.

Learning Spells

Unlike everything you can acquire in a Town, Spells do not cost money. You do not need to discard cards from your Hand to learn a Spell. If you have a Hero able to learn a Spell (see above) that is in your Hand or Risk Stack, and he has visited a Town that can teach him this Spell, you may simply place the Card of that Spell into the Hero's inventory. This may be done with several Spells at once, so you may learn any number of Spells in one turn.

Casting Spells

Each Spell Card states when that Spell may be cast. Most of them can be cast "in battle". This means that a Hero may cast a Spell at the moment when his turn to attack comes. To do so, the Hero must pass up his attack, since casting a Spell requires concentration.

Once a Spell is cast, place the Spell Card on the table face up. Then place an Object Token on the Spell Card, and a matching Token on the Card of the Spell's target. If the Spell's effect affects more than one target, place additional Tokens on the targets affected by the Spell. Also, place a Token on the Spell Card and turn it upside down to its blank side. This Token shows that the Spell has been cast once in the battle. The Spell Cards themselves describe the effects of each Spell. Once the effect of a Spell ends, remove the Tokens from the Spell Card and its targets. Leave only the turned-over Tokens. They are used to track how many times this Spell has been cast, as well as how many Mana points the caster has spent.

If you have cast a Spell in one of the Rounds of a battle, this does not mean that you cannot cast the same Spell again in the same battle. Simply repeat the process described above, placing Tokens on the Spell Card and on the Cards of its targets. Remember to add a new turned-over Token each time you cast this Spell.

When the battle is over, if the Hero who cast Spells survived the battle, return the Cards of the Spells used to his inventory. If the Hero died in the battle, the Cards of the Spells used are discarded.

Mana

There is a limit to the number of Spells a Hero may cast in battle. This limit is set by his Mana points. Note that each Spell Card shows its Mana cost. The total cost of the Spells cast by a particular Hero may not exceed the number of Mana points of that Hero. A Hero's total Mana points are calculated on the basis of his Primary Magic Skills, as well as certain Secondary Skills. For example, Basic Chaos Magic gives a Hero 10 Mana points, while the Secondary Skill Sorcery (at basic level) adds another 10, for a total of 20 Mana points. If a caster has only Level 1 Spells that cost 2 Mana points to cast, he may cast such a Spell 10 times in one battle, until his Mana points run out. Remember, each time the same Spell is cast in the same battle, its cost is subtracted from the caster's Mana points (see above).

Terrain Map Sections with Underground

About a quarter of all starter sets, as well as special sets, contain Terrain Map Sections with underground territories bounded by cave walls. Such Terrain Map Sections are underground. These Sections may be treated as ordinary while they are connected to the Sections with surface territories on them. If you use a combination of surface and underground Terrain Map Sections, you must assemble the world map correctly. To do this, you do not have to join the surface and underground Sections together. Instead, assemble 2 separate Maps, one made of the surface Sections and a second of all the underground Sections. Then, following the order of turns, place a coin on any two Object Tokens placed on the underground Map and a matching combination of a coin and two Object Tokens on the surface Map. Players may quickly travel between places where the coins are located without spending Movement Points. In doing so, you simulate movement from the surface into the underground and back. When these Object Tokens are found on the Map, they do not need to be Identified, since they already mark the entrance and exit to the underground. However, you must chip in for the Guard, since the entrance to the underground is usually guarded.

Victory

When only one player remains alive who has Army Stacks or Towns, that player becomes the Winner.

Game Variants

Team Play

The most common variant of the rules is Team Play. To play Team Play, divide the players into equal teams. Play the game as usual, but the winner will be the team whose players are left with Towns or Army Stacks. Players on the same team must not attack each other, and may visit each other's Towns to learn Spells and/or buy Units or Artifacts. Spells learned and Units and Artifacts purchased in an ally's Town must still be paid for from the player's own Hand or Risk Stack. Artifacts from a Hero's inventory may be traded with an ally's Hero when that Hero's Army Stack occupies the same hex as yours on the Game Board.

Different Starting Forces

If all players agree in advance, you may begin the game with non-standard Starting Forces. The players may agree that everyone starts with more or fewer Units, of any level by agreement. However, the total number of starting Units of each level must be the same for each player. Suppose you decide that each player starts with 6 Level 1 Units, 4 Level 2 Units, 2 Level 3 Units and 1 Level 4 Unit. This means each player must have exactly the same combination of Units. In addition, you may agree to start with more than one Hero. This is a good idea for games played on 10 or more Terrain Map Sections.

Pre-developed Heroes

By common agreement, players may also decide to begin playing with Heroes above the first level. To do so, each player places an agreed number of Primary and Secondary Skill Cards into the inventory of their starting Heroes. These Heroes may also begin the game with certain Spells or Artifacts. By the rule for magic Heroes, a Hero begins the game taking one Spell for each level of his magic Skill. For example, if your Hero starts the game with the Advanced Death Magic Skill, he takes one Level 1 Death Spell and one Level 2 Death Spell. The distribution of Artifacts must also be balanced. If players agree to start with Artifacts, they must take the same number of Artifacts of the "Treasure" type and the same number of Artifacts of any other type (Chaos, Death, Life, Might, Nature or Order).

Campaigns

Shortly after the release of this game, we will begin posting Campaigns on our website. Campaigns will require starting the game with certain Starting Forces, and will set certain objectives for a series of linked games. Heroes who survive one game of a Campaign begin the next game keeping their learned Spells, developed Skills and found Artifacts. For further information on Campaigns, visit www.dgagames.com.

Advanced Rules

There are some advanced rules of the game for more experienced players.

Morale

Morale is a measure of the Units' belief in their cause and their willingness to fight to the end in order to win a difficult battle. In the game, all Units have a Morale value of 0 (neutral) until some Skill, Spell, Artifact or terrain effect changes it. These factors may vary a Unit's Morale value between +5 (maximum Morale) and -5 (maximum negative Morale). When any Unit in battle has a Morale value other than zero, roll the die at the start of each Round. The result is the Morale value for that Round.

Units whose positive Morale is higher than the Morale value rolled on the die make two separate attacks during that Round. They may even sacrifice their first attack in order to strengthen the second, or sacrifice both attacks to add twice their level value to the attack value of a friendly Creature. Units whose negative Morale is lower than the negative value rolled on the die do not attack at all in this Round. They are too demoralized to fight.

Luck

Luck is a factor that usually comes into play when you least expect it. As with Morale, all Units initially have a zero (neutral) Luck value until the effect of a Skill, Spell, Artifact or terrain changes it. If the value is changed by these factors, a Unit's Luck may vary from +3 (maximum Luck) to -3 (maximum Bad Luck).

If a Unit has a positive Luck value, then when it attacks, roll the die as many times as the Luck value indicates, and add the highest result to the Unit's attack value. For example, if a Unit's Luck value is 3, when attacking it rolls the die 4 times and adds the best result to its attack value.

If a Unit has a negative Luck value, it receives the opposite effect. Roll the die as many times as the negative Luck value indicates, and add the lowest result to the Unit's attack value. If a Unit's Luck value is -3, when attacking it rolls the die 4 times, using the worst result.

Flying Armies

If all the Cards in an Army Stack have the special ability Flying, they move differently from other Army Stacks. Most importantly, these special Army Stacks may ignore all movement penalties while they fly over passable territory. In fact, they may move even through impassable terrain (except cave walls), but only if they do not stop on it. Even Flying Armies have no right to end their turn on impassable terrain. All terrain types cost one Movement Point (MP) per hex. On the other hand, such an Army Stack gets no benefit from moving over terrain whose normal movement cost is less than 1 MP per hex.

Native and Special Lands

Certain Units in Heroes IV gain an advantage when moving across so-called "Native Land". By the rules of the game, it gives them an advantage both in movement and in battle. The table below describes the effects of different terrains.

Terrain	Native Faction	Effects for native Units
Volcanic	Death	1 MP/hex; +1 Attack and Defense
Swamp	Chaos	2 MP/hex; +1 Attack and Defense
Snow	Order	2 MP/hex; +1 Attack and Defense
Grass/Dirt	Life	½ MP/hex; +1 Attack and Defense
Forest	Nature	1 MP/hex; +1 Attack and Defense
Wasteland	Might	1 MP/hex; +1 Attack and Defense
Cursed Ground	Death	1 MP/hex; +2 Attack and Defense. Morale and Luck have no effect.

Special terrains:

Special terrain	Faction	Effect
Enchanted Stone	Order	+2 Attack and Defense. Order Spells cost ½ Mana. Chaos Spells cost double.
Fields of Glory	Might	+2 Attack and Defense. The cost of all Spells is doubled.
Fields of Life	Life	+2 Attack and Defense. Life Faction Units receive maximum Morale.
Magic Garden	Nature	+2 Attack and Defense. Nature Faction Units receive maximum Luck. Nature Spells cost ½ Mana.
Scorched Earth	Chaos	+2 Attack and Defense. Chaos Spells cost ½ Mana. The cost of Order Spells is doubled.

Distance Penalties

Most ranged Units find it harder to deal damage to opponents who are far away from them. So, if you attack at range with your Unit located on your back line, against an enemy target Unit located on its back line, you must subtract 2 from the die result. However, the final result still cannot be below zero. Some Units (such as the Crossbowman) have special abilities that allow them to ignore distance penalties.

Buying Heroes of Other Factions

According to the basic rules, you may buy only those Heroes that match the Faction of the Town in which you buy them. However, they may learn Spells from two other Faction schools. According to the advanced rules, you may buy Heroes not only when their Faction matches the Town's Faction, but also Heroes whose Faction matches the Factions of other Spell schools available for learning in that Town. Either way, if a Hero's Faction does not match the Town's Faction, the cost of buying this Hero is 4 Cards, not 3 as in the usual case. In Towns of the Might Faction (Stronghold) Spells cannot be learned, so only Might Faction Heroes can be bought in them.

Resurrecting Fallen Heroes

When a Hero dies in a game with the advanced rules, turn his Card and the Cards of his inventory face down. If the rest of the Hero's Army wins the battle in which he died, that Army may carry him to the nearest friendly Town, where the Hero is immediately resurrected. From that moment you may again turn your Hero's Card and the Cards of his inventory face up, as if he had never died.

If a Hero dies and his Army loses the battle, turn the Hero's Card and his inventory face down as described above. In this case, place an Object Token on the Hero's Card, and a matching Token on the Game Board at the spot where he died. Later, a friendly Army Stack may pick up the fallen Hero and carry him to a Town for resurrection, as described above. However, while the dead Hero lies on the Game Board, an enemy Army with a Hero present may take all the Artifacts in the inventory of the fallen Hero.

Potions of Immortality

In the computer game, Potions of Immortality are a lifeline. Most Heroes do not dare to enter battle without such a Potion in hand. Therefore, in our advanced rules we assume that each Hero has such a potion before the start of each battle. To mark this, place a Token turned upside down on the Hero's Card at the very start of the battle. When a Hero takes damage that would normally kill him, simply remove this turned-over Token. The Hero is killed, but the Potion of Immortality immediately resurrects him. The next blow that should kill your Hero finally kills him, since the Potion of Immortality has ALREADY been used. This rule gives Heroes (who draw enemy fire) some chance of survival in battles where two large Armies oppose each other.

Resource Trading

Object Cards have a "Sold" label on their side. This allows a player who owns a Location Card to temporarily give another player the opportunity to use its bonus. To do so, simply turn it sideways so that the "Sold" label can be read, at the moment another player wants to get its bonus. The player to whom you "sell" your Card plays as if it were their own Card. While the Object is "sold", the real owner of this Card does not receive its bonus from it. At the end of the real owner's turn, the Card returns to its normal position.

Diplomacy

In the advanced rules game, one can agree on absolutely anything. You may make agreements with other players. For example: not to attack them for a certain period of time, not to use Spells at certain moments, to agree on jointly destroying other players, or on anything else. You may even trade Unit Cards from your Army Stacks and hand them over to another player. To do so, simply separate the desired Units into a new Army Stack, and transfer control of it to the other player. Control of these Units must be transferred at the START of these Units' turn, not at the end.

Most often, financial agreements are made between players. When you want to transfer currency to another player, simply discard the required number of cards from your Hand (not from your Risk Stack), and the other player draws the same number of cards into his Hand from his deck.

The benefit of your deals depends on you and on the people you play with. For example, you agree with another player that you will pay him three cards if he does not attack your Town. You discard three cards, and he successfully draws them. When his turn comes, he may nonetheless easily attack your Town, because he simply SAID he would not. Such actions will most likely be condemned by the other players, and no one else will make deals with this player. Therefore, doing so is strongly NOT recommended.

Errata

There are some errors that made it into print. The list follows:

Card set: in the original system of the game no die was used. Instead, action order Numbers were printed in the corners of all cards. During testing we decided to replace them with the die, but some cards that went to print still carry the note "Draw a card to get an action Number". If you have such a rare card in hand, then instead of drawing, simply roll the die. Since printing began, all errors of this kind have been corrected, so keep the cards with errors on them. They are now very rare and will never be printed again.

Arsenal Equipment: the term "Arsenal Equipment", which may be found on some cards, is fully interchangeable with the term "Artifact".

University: in Towns of the Life Faction (Heaven), when upgraded to level 4, Skills can be bought. The text of the Card says you may "buy Tactics, Life Magic or Battle for 2 cards". This means that a Hero may buy in this Town ONLY Basic-level Skills of these three Primary Skills.

Triple-head attack: the triple-head attack of the Unit Card "Cerberus" allows them to attack up to two Creatures per turn. On some such Cards (including the Nature Spell "Summon Cerberus") an error was made allowing them to attack up to three Creature Stacks per turn. However, the triple-head attack of the Hydra does indeed allow attacking up to three Creature Stacks per turn.

Titans: on the Titan Cards, the requirement for buying them is the presence of a Crystal Mine. In fact, it should be a Gem Mine.

Game Board size: the Game Board size given in this manual is used for casual play. For tournaments, the size is 60 cards in the deck, or 10 cards for each Terrain Map Section used in the game, depending on the preference of the tournament organizer.

Turn Summary

For easier use, the list of the sequence of actions during a turn is given below:

1. Income Phase: A) Draw one card for each Town under your control. B) Draw cards according to the bonuses listed on your Skill Cards (if any).
2. Purchase Phase: A) Buy Units from your Hand that are available in Towns under your control, discarding their cost as payment. B) Place Units bought in Towns on the Game Board.
3. Movement Phase: A) Divide your Armies into smaller ones, if necessary. B) Move some or all of the Armies under your control.
   1. Identify Towns, Creature Dwellings or Objects that fall within the Sight Radius of the unit you are moving.
   2. Capture Towns, Creature Dwellings or Objects whose territory you enter. Recruit Units from Creature Dwellings your Army has visited, once their guards have been defeated.
   3. Attack enemy Armies or Towns whose territory you enter.
4. Closing Phase: A) Place one card from your Hand into your Risk Stack. B) Draw one card into your Hand.