Hoplomachus: Remastered – Pandora's Wake Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• The Vesuvians
  • Rules
  • Components
• Condemned Mode
  • Goal
  • Components
  • Arena Mat
  • Setup
  • Deployment Hexes
  • Unit Limit
  • Arena Die
  • Arena Guardians
  • Wretches
  • Champion (Solo Only)
  • Crowd Favor
  • Crowd Favor Rewards
  • Rivals (Solo Only)
• Naumachia Mode
  • Goal
  • Components
  • Arena Mat
  • Setup
  • Crewmembers
  • Ships and Captains
  • Crocodiles
  • Platforms and Tactics
  • Crowd Favor
  • New Skill Type: Pivot
  • Rivals (Solo Only)
  • Rival Tactic Placement
  • Naumachia Turn Order
• Condemned Mode Reference Sheet
  • Arena Die
  • Arena Unit Skill
  • While Not On Alert
  • While On Alert
• Naumachia Mode Reference Sheet
  • Ships
  • Crocodiles
  • Rival AI – Priorities
  • Rival AI – Tactic Targeting
  • Rival AI – Unit Skills

The Vesuvians

In Pandora's Wake, the mysterious Vesuvians faction has finally chosen to make its presence known. Structured the same as each faction in the core box, this brand-new faction is ready to join you in your quest against the titans, immortals, and more!

Rules

Add the Vesuvians faction to your Hoplomachus: Remastered game. It can be selected in place of any other faction in the game, in any Remastered game mode.

Components

• Faction Tactic Chips (4)
• Hero Unit Chip (Thick)
• Faction Unit Chips (10)

Condemned Mode

1-2 players • Solo or competitive

In Condemned Mode, players fight for their freedom in a brutal faceoff against either another player or the rival. Each player-controlled troop has a Wretch, which represents a desolate, wretched prisoner, condemned to the heavenly Fa Mel prison for crimes unknown. Your only hope of escape? Win your freedom in combat with the odds stacked against you. Get to the exit – or failing that, defeat the opposing Wretch – to survive.

Goal

To win, you must have your Wretch reach the escape hex on the opposite side of the arena.

• Solo: The rival does not have a Wretch. The rival instead wins if your Wretch is defeated.
• Competitive: If your Wretch is defeated and the opposing Wretch remains, your win condition changes. You now win if you defeat the opposing Wretch before it escapes. Therefore, if both Wretches are defeated, the troop whose Wretch was defeated first wins the game.

Components

• Reference Sheet
• Wretch Chips (4)
• Neoprene Mat (shared with Naumachia mode)
• Arena Unit Chips (2)

Arena Mat

• Guardian Hexes. The hexes the guardians occupy for the combat. The guardian hexes are blocked for all units except the guardians.
• Escape Hexes. If a Wretch gets to their escape hex on the opposite side of the arena, their troop wins. The escape hexes are blocked for all units except the Wretches.
• Wretch/Champion Hexes. The Wretches (and the champion, if playing solo) are placed on the hex depicting chains on their troop's side of the arena during setup. These hexes are otherwise considered normal hexes.
• Key Hexes. Units that start their turn on one of these hexes gain 1-3 crowd favor depending on the number of icons on the hex.
• Alert Line. When playing solo, the Wretch occupying any hexes to the left of this line (the side closest to their escape hex) puts the rival units on alert, triggering the rivals to alter their priorities. This line has no special function in competitive games.

Setup

1. Arena. Place the expansion arena mat with the Fa Mel Prison arena face up.
2. Guardians. Randomize the two arena units, Scylla and Charybdis, and place each face up on one of the guardian hexes. Give them HP matching the color of the guardian hex they are on.
3. Reference Sheet and Arena Die. Place the reference sheet nearby. Roll an arena die and place it next to the reference sheet.
4. Crowd Favor. Place the matching bead below each crowd favor meter.
5. Determine Turn Order.
   • Solo: The rival is always player 1.
   • Competitive: Randomly determine player order.
6. Draft Your Troop. Each troop is made up entirely of elite heroes. Place all of the heroes in a draw bag, including neutral heroes. If you own Hoplomachus: Victorum or other Hoplomachus content, you may add as many additional heroes from those products as you wish into the draw bag as well. Player 1 then draws two heroes from the bag and drafts one of them into their camp in front of them. Player 2 takes the hero not chosen, adding it to their own camp. This then repeats with player 2 drawing two units and choosing one, and player 1 getting the leftover unit. Alternate drawing and drafting in this manner until both troops have 5 heroes each.
   • Solo: When the rival drafts, it always selects the unit with the highest Health. If both have the same Health, it chooses the deadliest. If still tied, the player decides. Place all of the rival's units in a lineup in their camp in the order they are drafted. After the fifth hero is drafted for each troop, draw one more hero from the draw bag. This is the rival's champion.

Deployment Hexes

Each troop uses the four deployment hexes of their color. If a troop has no available deployment hexes, that troop cannot deploy a unit on that turn.

• Solo: When the rival deploys units, they deploy on the available rival deployment hex that is closest to the Wretch. If multiple rival deployment hexes are available and equally close, the player chooses.

Unit Limit

Each troop has a unit limit of 1 at the start of the game, not including their Wretch/champion. A troop cannot deploy any units if they already have units in combat equaling their unit limit. Troop unit limits increase as crowd favor rewards are gained.

Arena Die

During setup of the game, an arena die is rolled and placed next to the reference sheet. The value of the arena die corresponds to an ongoing arena effect as the arena effects associated with each of the faces of the arena die are outlined on the reference sheet. Each effect applies until the die's value is changed.

The arena die must be re-rolled each time a crowd favor reward is gained by either troop. Additionally, as the last step of their turn, players may remove 2 HP from their Wretch in order to set the arena die to the face of their choosing.

Arena Guardians

Scylla and Charybdis are the two fearsome guardians of the Fa Mel Prison arena. They are arena units and act during the arena turn. Scylla and Charybdis are allied with each other and oppose all other units. Only the arena guardians can occupy the guardian hexes. The guardians cannot be moved from the guardian hexes.

Wretches

Each player-controlled troop has two double-sided Wretch chips which together represent a wretched prisoner. These chips show the Wretch numbered I-IV, which represent the Wretch's evolution as a warrior. Each player-controlled troop begins with a Wretch I in the arena. The Wretch is part of their troop. When upgraded through crowd favor, they either flip or swap chips to change to the next highest number, with IV being the strongest they can get. A troop with a Wretch wins by reaching the escape hex on their opponent's side of the arena with their own Wretch.

A troop without a Wretch wins by defeating the opposing Wretch.

Champion (Solo Only)

Rather than having a Wretch, the rival has a champion whose goal it is to stop your Wretch from escaping. The champion's priorities are found on the reference sheet. Note that while on alert, the champion's priorities are the same as the other rivals. While not on alert, the champion has separate priorities from the other rivals and separate priorities for marking and targeting.

The champion is inactive at the start of the game. While the champion is inactive, it does not take a turn or use its skills. It also cannot be marked or targeted. It blocks its hex but is otherwise ignored while inactive.

The champion activates when your Wretch first crosses the alert line, causing the rivals to be "on alert." When the champion activates, it flips over and gains its full HP. Once activated, the champion remains activated even if the Wretch crosses back to the other side of the alert line and the rivals are no longer on alert.

If there are not enough health chips in the supply for the champion when it activates, pull health chips from the guardian matching the rival's HP color until you have enough health chips to give the champion its full HP. If the guardian does not have enough HP, take all of its health chips and pull the remaining needed chips from the strongest rival unit.

If the champion is still inactive when either troop reaches the last reward spot on their crowd favor meter, it activates at that time.

Crowd Favor

Crowd favor is earned in two ways: occupying key hexes and removing HP from opponents.

There are 6 key hexes where teams can earn additional crowd favor in the prison. Each has 1-3 icons on it, representing the amount of crowd favor earned by a unit that begins its turn on that hex.

Whenever a unit removes HP from an opponent (including arena units), the troop that caused the HP loss gains crowd favor equal to the amount of HP lost.

Crowd Favor Rewards

As you advance in crowd favor, you will hit reward spaces on the crowd favor meter. Each time a troop reaches or passes a reward spot on their meter, they immediately:

1. Gain 2 HP on their Wretch (skip for rival) and
2. Re-roll the arena die, setting a new effect for the arena as outlined on the reference sheet.

The first three crowd favor rewards upgrade your Wretch to the next level. Change the Wretch's level immediately by flipping the Wretch chip or switching to the other chip as applicable. They also increase your unit limit to match your Wretch's level.

The final crowd favor reward allows the troop to regain a defeated elite unit of theirs. The unit is placed in their camp, to be deployed as normal.

• Solo: Regardless of which troop reaches the final crowd favor reward, the first to do so causes the rival's champion to be activated if it hasn't already. The champion chip flips and receives its full HP. When the rival regains a unit, they choose just as they do when drafting, selecting the unit with the highest Health, and the deadliest of those breaking the tie.
• Competitive: Ignore the crowd favor text that says to activate the champion.

If a troop reaches the top of their crowd favor meter, they stop tracking crowd favor for the remainder of the game.

Rivals (Solo Only)

The rival deploys the top unit in their lineup each turn (unless already at their unit limit or they don't have enough HP to do so). They use the deployment hex of theirs that is closest to your Wretch (on a tie, you choose). The rival troop gains crowd favor in the same ways as player troops do. The priorities for rival units are laid out on the reference sheet.

Reminders and Notes

• A troop cannot deploy a unit if it does not have enough HP of the proper color in the supply to give the unit its full HP. This is particularly important in this game mode because each arena unit starts with 12 HP from one of the troops, which is only returned to the supply as these units lose HP.
• Tactics are not used in this mode.

Condemned Turn Order

Player 1 Turn (Rival if Solo)

1. Check key hexes
2. Deployment
3. Movement
4. Abilities
5. Engage
6. Pay 2 HP to Re-roll Arena Die (Player Only)

Player 2 Turn

1. Check key hexes
2. Deployment
3. Movement
4. Abilities
5. Engage
6. Pay 2 HP to Re-roll Arena Die

Arena Turn

1. Engage

Naumachia Mode

1-2 players • Solo or competitive

Naumachia mode simulates the epic naval battles of ancient Rome, where rulers flooded fighting arenas to facilitate these bloody, aquatic battles. The naumachia of Pandora's Wake takes place in an arena already well known to Hoplomachus veterans: the Colosseum.

Goal

Defeat the opposing hero.

Components

• Reference Sheets (2)
• Ship Minis (4)
• Neoprene Mat (shared with Condemned mode)
• Sailors of the Dead Faction Chips (8)
• Tactic Chips (6)
• Crocodile Chips (4)
• Sailors of the Dead Hero Chip (Thick)

Arena Mat

• Crocodile Starting Hexes. The arena icons in the middle of the mat mark the starting hexes that are used during setup for the four Crocodile arena units.
• Ship Starting Hexes. The ship icons around the edges of the arena mark the starting hexes that are used during setup for the four chip minis.
• Platforms. Faction units that are not on ships can gain tactics by occupying these platform hexes. Ships and Crocodiles cannot occupy these hexes.

Setup

1. Arena. Place the expansion arena mat with the Flooded Colosseum arena face up.
   • Solo: Place the mat so that you have easy access to the red crowd favor meter.
   • Competitive: Place the mat so one player has easy access to the red crowd favor meter, and the other has easy access to the blue.
2. Reference Sheets. The fronts of both reference sheets are identical, with the backs covering different aspects of rival behavior.
   • Solo: Take both reference sheets.
   • Competitive: Give each player a reference sheet. Use only the fronts, ignoring rival information on the back.
3. Crowd Favor. Place the matching bead above the leftmost (longest) track of each crowd favor meter.
4. Determine Turn Order.
   • Solo: The rival is always player 1.
   • Competitive: Randomly determine player order.
5. Select Your Troop. Each troop is made up of eight non-elite units and one hero from the same faction. Players freely choose a faction and then select the hero and eight of the non-elite units from that faction. The remaining two units and the tactics of that faction are not used.
   • Solo: The rival uses the Sailors of the Dead faction, created specifically for their use in this mode. This consists of eight non-elite units and a hero, Charon.
   • Competitive: Player 2 chooses their faction first, followed by player 1. Players choose the units they will use in secret, discarding the two unused units face down.

Crewmembers

All units on ships are called crewmembers. They have no HP, their skills are ignored, and tactics cannot be played on them. Crewmembers are not considered units or opponents for any game text that refers to either. In this mode, units and opponents refer specifically to units in the water, which includes Crocodiles, units that have been dislodged from ships, and heroes.

Ships and Captains

Ships move and engage on their troop's turn as if they are units. However, ships are not considered units or opponents. Tactics can only be played on ships if the tactic specifies it is to be played on a ship.

Ships can target and damage units. Units can also target and damage ships; however, when damage is dealt to a ship, crowd favor is lost rather than HP (see Crowd Favor on pg. 22). Any effect applied to a ship other than damage is ignored.

The captain of each ship is the frontmost crewmember. The captain determines several of the ship's attributes, as detailed in the Ship section of the reference sheet.

• The ship's Movement is triple the captain's Movement.
• The ship's Range is the captain's Range.
• The ship's Attack is the captain's Attack, adding a Yellow die for each other crewmember on the ship (this excludes the captain).
• Each troop has unique bonuses as determined by the class of its captain(s). If a captain has multiple classes, use the top class shown. For Tactician and Defender bonuses which apply to the entire troop, the bonus does not stack if a troop has two captains of the same class – the bonus applies only once.

When a ship loses its last crewmember, the ship is removed from the arena immediately.

Crocodiles

Crocodiles are the arena units in Naumachia. These units are allied with each other and oppose all other units. The Crocodiles are split up into two arena turns: the Crocodiles with red HP act after the red player, and the Crocodiles with blue HP act after the blue player. The priority list for Crocodiles is on the reference sheets.

• Competitive: In any situation in which a player needs to make a choice for a Crocodile, the player whose troop matches the Crocodile's HP color makes the decision for the Crocodile.

Platforms and Tactics

Platform hexes are considered to be in water for game text that references water. Platforms are blocked for both ships and Crocodiles.

Units that end their turn on a platform earn one random tactic from the supply for their troop. Gained tactics are placed in that troop's camp. Each troop has a Tactic Capacity of 2 and does not gain a tactic if they already have two when they would gain one. Tactics can be played at any Range – a tactic target can be anywhere in the arena.

Crowd Favor

Crowd favor starts above the leftmost (and longest) crowd favor track. Whenever one of your ships is dealt damage, you lose crowd favor equal to the amount of damage dealt and move down the current track you are on. The final spot of each track contains a crowd favor event.

When a troop's bead arrives at an event space on the crowd favor track, they must carry out the event text. Any excess crowd favor that would be lost from that source is ignored. After carrying out the event's text, move the crowd favor bead to above the next track to the right. Once the rightmost track's event has been triggered, that troop repeats that track for the remainder of the game.

Each crowd favor event dislodges a captain from a ship. When you dislodge one of your captains, remove a captain from one of your ships of your choice and place it on the closest available hex. Note the captain does not need to come from the ship that received damage.

• Solo: If there are multiple hex options where a captain could be placed, the player chooses.
• Competitive: The controlling player chooses which closest hex to dislodge the captain to.

The fourth crowd favor event causes that troop's hero to enter combat. The hero is deployed on their troop's deployment hex with full HP. If this hex is blocked, place the hero on the closest available hex.

Some skills and tactics allow you to gain crowd favor. When crowd favor is gained, move your crowd favor bead up on its current track. If the bead reaches the top of the current track, ignore any further gained crowd favor (do not move back to the previous track).

New Skill Type: Pivot

Some units of the new rival faction, the Sailors of the Dead, have a new skill type called Pivot. Units with Pivot skills use those skills directly after attacking an opposing unit or ship, if they roll any misses on their attack.

Rivals (Solo Only)

The rival troop has the same goal as you do, and all of the above rules apply to them unless otherwise noted. They lose crowd favor the same way you do, as well. The priorities and details for rival units are laid out on the back of the reference sheets.

Note: The Sailors of the Dead faction is meant to be played only in solo Naumachia mode. These units, including the hero, are not designed or balanced to be played in other game modes.

Rival Tactic Placement

When gained, rival tactics are placed in the rival camp in the order they were gained. The rival can only play one tactic per turn. On the tactic placement step of their turn, the rival attempts to place the first tactic in their camp. The target is determined by the Tactic Targeting table on the reference sheets. Remember that tactics can be played at unlimited Range in this game mode. If the rival has more than one possible target for a tactic, the player chooses the rival's target from among the options available.

If the first tactic cannot be placed, go to the next tactic and so on until the rival is able to place a tactic, or there are no tactics in their camp that can be placed.

Naumachia Turn Order

Player 1 Turn (Rival if Solo)

1. Tactic placement
2. Movement
3. Abilities
4. Engage
5. Check platforms

Arena Turn (Crocodiles matching Player 1's HP)

1. Movement
2. Abilities
3. Engage

Player 2 Turn

1. Tactic placement
2. Movement
3. Abilities
4. Engage
5. Check platforms

Arena Turn (Crocodiles matching Player 2's HP)

1. Movement
2. Abilities
3. Engage

Condemned Mode Reference Sheet

Companion reference sheet for Condemned Mode, transcribed from the official "Condemned Mode Reference" (Chip Theory Games). The sheet's cover art is not reproduced. Skill and class icons are not reproduced; they appear as bracketed labels where the text depends on them.

Arena Die

#	Outcome
1	Guardians have [icon] Absorb.
2	Key hexes grant -1 crowd favor.
3	Guardians have +1 Range.
4	Key hexes grant 2x crowd favor.
5	Guardians have [icon] Blasphemous and [icon] Retaliate.
6	Wretches have +2 Movement.

Arena Unit Skill

Skill	Type	Rules
Savage	Special	This unit rolls dice equal to its Attack against each opponent in Range (rolling individually for each opponent). Triggers if multiple opponents are in range.

While Not On Alert

• Guardians: Opponent
• Champion:
  • For marking – Wretch > Hex adjacent to opponent's escape hex
  • For targeting – Wretch > Player-controlled elite > HP-matching Guardian > Guardian
• Other Rival Units: Wretch > Highest value key hex in range of opponent > Highest value available key hex > Player-controlled elite > HP-matching Guardian > Guardian

While On Alert

• Guardians: Opponent
• Rival Units: Wretch > Weakest opposing elite > HP-matching Guardian > Hex adjacent to opponent's escape hex

Naumachia Mode Reference Sheet

Companion reference sheets for Naumachia Mode, transcribed from the official "Naumachia Mode Reference" (Chip Theory Games). The Naumachia pack has two reference sheets; their fronts are identical, so the Ships and Crocodiles page is transcribed once. Skill and class icons are not reproduced; they appear as bracketed labels where the text depends on them.

Ships

Ship Movement	Ship Range	Ship Attack
Captain's Movement x 3	Captain's Range	Captain's Attack, add 1 Yellow die for each other crewmember (excluding Captain).

Each troop has unique bonuses based on the class of its current captain(s). The bonuses for Attacker and Defender do not stack if a troop has both captains of the same class. If the captain has multiple classes, use the top class listed on the chip.

Class	Unique Bonus
Attacker	Instead of a Yellow die, add 1 Blue die to this ship's Attack for each crewmember on this ship.
Archer	Add the Range of your other captain to this ship's Range.
Tactician	When you gain a tactic, gain an additional tactic. When your opponent loses crowd favor, they lose 1 additional crowd favor.
Defender	When either of your ships is dealt damage, reduce the damage dealt by 1.
Beast	Crocodiles do not mark or target this ship.

Crocodiles

Crocodile priorities: Hero > Weakest opponent > Player-controlled ship > Ship

Skill	Type	Rules
Frenzied	Innate	If there is at least one non-arena unit in the water, this unit's Movement is equal to the number of non-arena units currently in the water.

Rival AI – Priorities

• Ships: Opposing unit on a platform > Opposing hero > Farthest opposing ship > Weakest player-controlled unit > Arena unit
• Units:
  • For marking – The platform they currently occupy > Unoccupied platform > Opposing hero > Weakest player-controlled unit
  • For targeting – Opposing hero > Weakest player-controlled unit > Weakest arena unit
• Dislodge: When the rival dislodges a captain, they choose the captain of the ship with the most crewmembers (player's choice if equal).

Rival AI – Tactic Targeting

Tactic	Rules
Anchor	Use on the opposing ship with the lowest Movement.
Rupture	Use on the rival ship with the fewest crewmembers.
Bait	Use on the Crocodile closest to a player-controlled unit or ship.
Netted	Use on the strongest opponent in the water.
Befriended	Use on the Crocodile closest to a player-controlled unit.
Foul Wind	Use on the opposing ship farthest from a ship starting hex.

Rival AI – Unit Skills

Skill	Type	Rules
Absolve	Innate	This unit's troop cannot lose crowd favor.
Animalistic	Innate	[Beast icon] units do not mark or target this unit.
Elude	Special	This unit may immediately move up to 5 hexes. Triggers if within an opposing ship's Range. If triggered, this unit moves according to its printed priority.
Exploit	Innate	After this unit is dealt damage by the opposing troop (even if defeated), the opposing troop loses crowd favor equal to the amount of damage dealt.
Frenzied	Innate	If there is at least one non-arena unit in the water, this unit's Movement is equal to the number of non-arena units currently in the water.
Guide	Innate	All of this unit's allies have +3 Movement and add 1 Yellow die to their Attack.
Leech	Ability