Kleos

Kleos Rulebook

Table of Contents

The Goal

The object of the game is to collect the most Glory during the Contest. The Contest lasts five days, each represented by a round of play. At the end of the last round, the player with the most Glory wins. Earn Glory through victory in combat, by holding key parts of the city, and by recruiting epic heroes and monsters to your cause.

Components

1 Fates Deck (80 cards)
1 Zeus Deck (18 cards)
1 Epic Minion Deck (32 cards)
1 Ares Divine Deck (15 cards)
1 Artemis Divine Deck (15 cards)
1 Athena Divine Deck (15 cards)
1 Dionysus Divine Deck (15 cards)
1 Hermes Divine Deck (15 cards)
5 Olympian God Cards
5 Champion Minion Cards
20 Hoplite Meeples
5 Champion Miniatures
5 Scoring Meeples
1 First Player Token
1 Olympus' Favor Token
1 Strife Token (Ares)
20 Wine Tokens (Dionysus)
1 Wine Card (Dionysus)
1 Day Tracker Token
5 Temple Hexes
1 Board
5 Player Boards
14 Custom Dice
1 Rulebook

Setup

Player Components

A. Player Board: Place one in front of each player on the table.
B. Reference Card: Keep this handy nearby as a quick reference.
C. Ares Components: Divine Deck, God Card, Scoring Meeple, Champion Card, Temple, Strife Token, 4 Red Hoplite Meeples, Champion Miniature.
D. Artemis Components: Divine Deck, God Card, Scoring Meeple, Champion Card, Temple, 4 Blue Hoplite Meeples, Champion Miniature.
E. Athena Components: Divine Deck, God Card, Scoring Meeple, Champion Card, Temple, 4 Green Hoplite Meeples, Champion Miniature.
F. Hermes Components: Divine Deck, God Card, Scoring Meeple, Champion Card, Temple, 4 Yellow Hoplite Meeples, Champion Miniature.
G. Dionysus Components: Divine Deck, God Card, Scoring Meeple, Wine Tokens, Champion Card, Temple, 4 Yellow Hoplite Meeples, Champion Miniature.

Shared Components

A. Game Board
B. Dice: Three blank sides, two sides with (success), one side with (Succeed only when Minion rolls Godly dice).
C. First Player Token
D. Olympus' Favor Token
E. Greek Isles
F. City Locations: The Port, Market, Arena, and Theater
G. Epic Minion Deck
H1 - H5. Temple Set-up Locations: See the Temple Locations Used chart below for details.
I. Fates Deck
J. Hades: Shared discard pile. All cards, regardless of which deck they came from, are placed in Hades when they are slaughtered, used, or would otherwise be discarded.
K. Zeus Deck
L. Day Tracker & Token
M. Glory Score Track

Temple Locations Used per number of players:

Temple	2P	3P	4P	5P
H1	yes	yes	yes	yes
H2			yes	yes
H3		yes		yes
H4			yes	yes
H5	yes	yes	yes	yes

Game Board Setup

Shuffle the Fates Deck, Zeus Deck, and Epic Minion Deck, and place them on the appropriate spaces on the board as shown.
Place the Day Tracker at Day 1 on the Game Board to track the current day.
Place one card from the Epic Minion Deck face-up at each of the five Greek Isles.

Player Setup

Each player selects the God they would like to play as, and takes all of that God's components.
Place a player board and reference card in front of each player.
Each player shuffles their Divine Deck and places it to the left of their player board, positioning their God on the right side of the player board, and placing their Champion in the "Champion Minion" space on the player board.
Place each player's Scoring Meeple on the S of the score track.
Take each player's Temple Hex, shuffle them facedown, and randomly assign them to one of the appropriate Temple locations on the board based on the number of players as shown in the diagram above. Then flip the Temples face up. The player controlling Temple 1 (noted on the diagram) takes the First Player Token to start the game.
Each player draws four cards from the Fates Deck, then searches their Divine Deck for the two starting Divine cards listed on their God card and adds them to their hand. The two Divine cards and five Fates cards make up each player's starting hand. Each player should then shuffle their Divine Deck.

The example setup is a two-player game between Dionysus and Ares. Dionysus is on Temple 1 and Ares is on Temple 5. Each player should have six cards in their hand:

2 Divine cards appropriate for their God
4 cards drawn from the top of the Fates Deck.

Glory

The score track shows how much Glory each player has. When a player gains Glory, move their token that number of spaces on the score track. Players earn Glory in the following ways.

Action	Glory	Phase
Recruit an Epic Minion	1 Glory	Action - Minion Actions
Kill a Basic/Epic Minion	1 Glory	Action - Combat
Defeat a Champion	2 Glory	Action - Combat
Slaughter an enemy	+1 Glory per Kill	Action - Combat
Control Market, Arena, or Theatre at the end of a day	1 Glory	Dusk
Control the Port at the end of a day	2 Glory	Dusk

Note: Players earn Glory for killing Minions in any way, including by using card effects. For example, Hermes would gain 1 Glory for killing a Minion with the card Trickster.

Card Types

A. Minion Cards - Every creature you control in the game is a Minion (including your Champion). This is the most general keyword.

B. Act of the Gods - These cards represent your ability to interact with the world and try to sway the Contest in your favor. In general, Act of the Gods cards can only be played during your Play Phase, unless they have "Reaction" written at the top of their text box. In that case, the card text will explain when it can be played.

C. Blessing - Blessing cards are attached to Minions during your Play Phase. Place the Blessing under the blessed Minion so that you can see the ability text below the card. Each Minion may only have one Blessing of the same name attached to it. A Minion can have several blessings attached as long as they have different names.

D. Curse - Curse cards are attached to opposing Minions during your Play Phase. They cannot be attached to Minions with the Champion keyword. Place the Curse under the chosen Minion so that you can see the ability text below the card. Like Blessings, each Minion may have multiple Curses attached as long as they have different names.

The Golden Rule

If any rules conflict with the wording on a card, follow the wording on the card.

Minion Statistics & Abilities

Minion Keywords

Each Minion has keywords that state what type of creature the card represents.

Champion - This is your God's favored Minion and will always be in play. Your Champion cannot be Cursed, Slaughtered, or removed from the board in any way. If they would be killed, they are instead immediately moved back to your Temple and anything attached to them is sent to Hades. They can take any remaining actions as normal.
Basic - Common Minions that make up your army.
Epic - Heroes and Monsters famous for their exploits throughout the ancient world. These are stronger than your Basic Minions and are either recruited from the Greek Isles or found in your Divine Deck.
Hero - Some cards only affect Heroes. Also, only Heroes can have cards with the Heroic Mount ability attached to them.
Monsters - Some cards only affect Monsters. Also, only Monsters can have cards with the Monstrous Offering ability attached to them.

Minion Statistics & Abilities

Stats are used for combat, to recruit Minions, and to gain a tactical advantage in combat. When making a stat check, typically performed for either Attack or Cunning, roll one die for each point in the appropriate stat. For instance, to make a Cunning check with a Minion that has 5 Cunning, roll five dice and tally the successes. The same is true for making an Attack check.

A Minion card shows: Card Name, Attack, Defense, Cunning, Tactics, Swift Ability, Disposition, Keywords, Ability Text.

Attack - The number of dice rolled when making an Attack Action or Retaliating.
Defense - The number of successes an opponent needs to roll to kill this Minion.
Cunning - The number of dice rolled when recruiting Minions and for some Influence/Intelligence checks.
Tactics - A passive bonus/penalty a Minion offers to allies in the same location during combat.
Disposition - This value represents the number of successes required when attempting to Recruit an Epic Minion.

Heroic Mount - A card with the Heroic Mount ability can be played as a Minion or it can be played from your hand and attached to a Hero you control, as if you were playing a Blessing instead of entering play as a Minion. It gives the mounted Hero the benefit listed after the ability name, but not any of the card's other stats. A Minion can only have one Mount attached to it, and a Mount can be discarded and replaced with a new one.

Monstrous Offering - A card with the Monstrous Offering ability can be played as a Minion or it can be played from your hand and attached only to a Monster, as if you were playing a Blessing instead of entering play as a Minion. It gives the Minion it is offered to the benefit listed after the ability name. A Minion can only have one Offering attached to it, and a previous Offering can be discarded and replaced with a new one.

Competing Check - Some cards call for two or more Minions to make a competing check with a particular stat. To resolve this, both Minions involved roll one die for each point in the appropriate stat. The winner is the Minion that rolls the most successes. In the event of a tie, there is no winner unless stated otherwise on the card.

Keyword Targeting - Note that some cards may refer to specific keywords that impact whether they can target or affect a particular Minion. For example, a card may read "Choose an Epic Minion," or specifically "Choose an Epic Monster."

Swift - A Minion with this ability can move two hexes with their first Movement action during each round and one hex for any subsequent Movement actions during the Action Phase. When moving two hexes, Swift Minions are only considered to "leave" their original hex for determining Opportunity Attacks (page 13). They do not interact with the second hex they move through.

Hunter - Minions with the Hunter ability gain a special bonus when they have no allies present at their location. For instance, the Minotaur gains +2 Attack and +1 Defense when there are no allies at its location.

No Dice or Token Limits - There is no limit to the number of dice you can roll. If you ever need to roll more dice than are included in the game, reroll enough dice to complete your check. Use dice that came up failures if possible. There is also no limit to the number of counters. If you ever need more counters (i.e., Dionysus' Wine Tokens) than are included in the game, use a substitute, such as coins, poker chips or wine charms.

Using the Player Board

Slide Mounts, Offerings, Blessings and Curses under the player board below the Minion they are attached to so you can see the ability text, but not the whole card. In the example, a Nymph's Monstrous Offering ability is used to upgrade a Centaur, and an Amazonian Cavalry's Heroic Mount ability is used to give Heracles Swift and +2 Cunning.

Solo Play Rules

There are many ways to play Kleos single player using the components provided in the game box. You can either play through scripted scenarios, where you guide epic characters through their mythic adventures, or you can play a modified version of the core game rules, competing with an automated opponent. All Solo Play Rules and variants can be found by visiting azurehorizongames.com/solorules.

Playing the Game

Starting the Game

Deployment (simultaneous)

Round Sequence

Daybreak (simultaneous)
Each player takes their Play Phase
Each player takes their Action Phase
Dusk (simultaneous)

Proceed to Daybreak of next day. The game ends after Dusk of Day 5.

Ending the Game

The Contest ends after Dusk on Day 5. The player with the most Glory wins!

Deployment

This phase only happens at the start of the game.

Place the miniature that represents each player's Champion on that player's Temple hex.
Each player may simultaneously put as many Minions as they choose from their hand into play. The cards are placed on the player boards, and the corresponding Minion Tokens all enter play on that player's Temple.
Once each player has set their Minions, proceed to Daybreak for the first day of the Contest.

Do not play any other cards from your hands yet. Players should only put their Minions into play.

Phase 1: Daybreak

Daybreak is an upkeep phase to start the new round of play. All players take this phase simultaneously.

The first Daybreak after Deployment:

Draw: Each player simultaneously draws one card from their Divine Deck.

All other steps are covered during Setup. See pages 6-8 for details.

Daybreak on Days 2 through 5:

Draw: Each player simultaneously draws one card from their Divine Deck.
Move Day Counter: Advance the Day Counter to the next day.
Rotate First Player: The First Player Token rotates clockwise to the next player. They will be the first player this turn.
Populate Greek Isles: If a Greek Isle does not have a card on it and no player has a Minion Token at that location, draw a new card from the Epic Minion Deck and place it face-up on the empty island.
Zeus' Pity: Each player that is 5 or more Glory behind the leading player draws a card from Zeus' Deck. These are very powerful cards that represent Zeus' flair for helping the underdog... or causing more mayhem!

Phase 2: Play Phase

Players take their Play Phases individually, starting with the first player and moving clockwise around the table until the last player completes the phase. When all players complete their Play Phase, move to the Action Phase.

During your Play Phase, you will ONLY play cards from your hand. You may perform any of the following in any order, until you choose to stop playing cards or have none left to play.

Play an Act of God: Follow the instructions on the card and then discard the card to Hades. It can only be played during your Play Phase unless the card says "Reaction" at the top of the text box, in which case it will say when the card can be played.
Play a Heroic Mount/Monstrous Offering: Attach a Heroic Mount from your hand to a Hero you control, or attach a Monstrous Offering from your hand to a Monster you control (page 10).
Play a Blessing/Curse: Attach the card to a Minion during your Play Phase as instructed. Slide it under the Minion so only the text box is visible. Some Blessings/Curses can only be attached specifically to Heroes or Monsters as instructed on the card.
Play a Minion: When playing a Minion, place a Minion card from your hand onto one of the four Minion spaces on your player board. Take the Minion Token corresponding to the appropriate numbered space on your player board and place it on your Temple on the Game Board. A player may only have a maximum of four Minions and their Champion in play at any time. If a player has four Minions in play and another Minion would enter play under their control, they must send one of their Minions or the Minion entering play to Hades before placing the new Minion into play at their Temple. Minions that are Cursed may not be replaced or voluntarily sent to Hades in this way.

Reminder: Curses can never be played on Champions.

Phase 3: Action Phase - Minion Actions

Players take their Action Phase individually as well, starting with the first player and moving clockwise around the table until the last player completes this phase. When all players complete their Action Phase, move to Dusk.

During each player's Action Phase, each of their Minions can take up to two actions in any order until the player decides to end their Action Phase. A Minion can perform any of the following actions; the same action can be taken multiple times.

Movement (Check for Opportunity Attacks)
Attack
Recruit

Glory Earned During Action Phase:

Action	Glory
Recruit an Epic Minion	1 Glory
Kill a Basic/Epic Minion	1 Glory
Defeat a Champion	2 Glory
Slaughter an enemy	+1 Glory per Kill

Movement

During a Movement action, a Minion moves to any adjacent location. There is no limit to the number of Minions that can be present on the same location. The Port has special movement rules: from the Port, Minions can move to any Greek Isle. From the Greek Isles, Minions can only move back to the Port. Minions cannot move directly from one Greek Isle to another; the Isles are all considered adjacent to the Port, but not to each other. Each of the Greek Isles is considered a separate location for movement and card ruling purposes. Also, leaving the Port to any other location does not invite an Opportunity Attack. See the Recruiting Example on page 15 for a detailed image of movement to and from the Greek Isles.

Example: Dionysus moves his Minion 4 to an adjacent location.

Attack

During an Attack action, a player chooses one of their Minions to attack an opposing Minion at the same location. See Combat on page 16 for more information on combat.

Example: Dionysus has Minion 4 attack Ares' Minion 2.

Opportunity Attack

If a Minion leaves a location occupied by opposing Minions (except when moving off the Port), the opposing Minion's controller may choose to have one of their Minions on that location take a free Attack action against the fleeing Minion. This attack is made as usual except that Tactics values are not added to the attack and the fleeing Minion does not get to retaliate. Each Minion may make only one Opportunity Attack each Day.

If multiple players would be able to make an Opportunity Attack on the same Minion leaving a location, player priority is decided in turn order. The first player (in turn order) decides whether to make an Opportunity Attack, rolls their attack, and then priority proceeds around the table if the targeted Minion survives. Opportunity Attacks are offered even if Minions are not moved willingly, for instance, if Minions are moved by a Siren's ability.

Example: Ares has his Minion 2 use a Move Action to move to an adjacent location, which allows Dionysus' Minion 4 to make an Opportunity Attack.

Recruit Epic Minion

Players may move their Minions to the Greek Isles with the goal of recruiting the Epic Heroes and Monsters that reside there. The recruiting Minion makes a Cunning check and compares that result with the Disposition value of the Epic Minion at its location. If the recruiting Minion rolls at least as many successes as the Disposition value, then the Epic Minion is recruited.

When an Epic Minion is recruited successfully, the recruiting player gains 1 Glory, moves that Epic Minion's card onto their player board as though it was just played (discarding an existing Minion if necessary), and places the appropriate Minion Token on the location where it was recruited alongside the Minion that recruited it. Players can continue trying to recruit the same Epic Minion if they fail the first time by spending additional actions. When recruited, the Minion is exhausted and cannot take actions that day.

Recruiting Example

Dionysus uses Minion 4's first action to move it from the Port to the Greek Isle where Amazonian Queen Myrina is residing. Dionysus may then use Minion 4's second action to attempt to recruit Myrina. To do this, Minion 4 would roll a number of dice equal to its Cunning. It would need to roll one success since Myrina's Disposition is 1.

The Port

The Port is a special location for several reasons: Controlling the Port is worth 2 Glory at the end of a Day (the most from any City Location). Minions can move from the Port to the Greek Isles, and from the Greek Isles back to the Port. Lastly, there are no Opportunity Attacks when a Minion leaves the Port.

Phase 3: Action Phase - Combat

During an Attack Action, both Minions will have a chance to make an Attack Check, with the Minion initiating the Attack Action attacking first. Any fight between Minions is considered combat, whether they are attacking, retaliating, or making an Opportunity Attack.

Tally Tactics - At the start of combat before dice are rolled, each player tallies the Tactics values of all their non-combatant Minions at that location. This value is added to their combatant's Attack Stat for this combat. Note: the fighting Minion does not gain a benefit from its own Tactics value.
Roll an Attack check - Roll a number of dice equal to the Minion's Attack stat plus (or minus) the Tactics benefit and any other bonuses or penalties, and tally the successes.
Defend - Next, compare the number of attack successes with the Defense value. Defense is not rolled. The attacker needs a number of successes equal to the target's Defense to kill the target.
Decide the Outcome
- A. If the attacker rolls a number of successes less than the target's Defense stat, the attack is unsuccessful. Proceed to step 5.
- B. If the attacker rolls a number of successes equal to or greater than the defender's Defense stat, the defender will be killed at the end of combat after retaliation is complete. Proceed to step 5.
- C. Slaughter - When a Minion attacks first in combat and exceeds the target's Defense by 3 or more successes, the target is killed instantly and does not get to retaliate unless it is a Champion (See Slaughter & Champions). The victorious player gains 1 additional Glory and may choose to give the victorious Minion Olympus' Favor. Move directly to Step 6.
Retaliate - After the first Minion attacks, if they didn't cause a Slaughter, the defending Minion has the chance to retaliate against the attacking Minion. Repeat Steps 2-4 with the other combatant attacking, keeping the same Tactics modifiers. The retaliating Minion cannot Slaughter the initial attacker.
Conclude Combat - First, resolve the effects of combat. Cards belonging to any Minions that are killed are sent to Hades along with any attached blessings, curses, or equipment, and associated markers are removed from the board back to that player's player board. Any Champions that were defeated are instead sent to their player's Temple. Last, each player gains Glory as appropriate for the Minions they killed.

Slaughter & Champions - Champions cannot be Slaughtered and no additional Glory is gained if a Champion would be Slaughtered. A Champion always gets to retaliate.

Negative Tactics - Many wild and powerful monsters struggle to distinguish between allies and enemies. These Minions have a negative Tactics stat, as their allies must focus on avoiding friendly fire. Negative Tactics values are tallied as well, and detract from the Tactics total. If a player has a negative tally, they must apply this to their Attack as a penalty instead of a bonus.

Olympus' Favor - When a Minion has Olympus' Favor, all of its dice are considered Godly Dice and succeed on the Godly face as well as the success face. Only one Minion may have Olympus' Favor at a time. If another Minion gains Olympus' Favor, the Minion that had it previously loses it immediately.

Tactics Example: Hermes controls a Hoplite Warrior in combat. He also controls a Centaur with a Tactics value of 1 and a Priest of the Olympian Gods with a Tactics value of 3 at the same location. This total of 4 Tactics is added to the Hoplite Warrior's Attack value for this combat. Theseus is at a different location in this example, and so does not contribute any Tactics bonus to this combat.

Phase 4: Dusk

Discard

In turn order, players may discard any number of cards from their hand and then draw cards from the Fates Deck until they have a total of three cards of any type in hand. The max hand size at the end of a turn is three; if a player would end this phase with more than three cards, they must discard down to three cards.

Tally Glory

Tally Glory earned for Area Control. The player with the most Minions at each of the following City Locations gains the amount of Glory listed on the location (see Glory Earned chart, below).

Champions serve as the tie-breaker. I.e. If two players each have one Minion at the Port, but one player's Minion is their Champion, that player would control the location and gain the appropriate two Glory. If there is a true tie and no player holds a tie-breaker, then nobody earns that Glory.

Glory Earned at Dusk:

Action	Glory
Control Market, Arena, or Theatre at the end of a day	1 Glory
Control the Port at the end of a day	2 Glory

The game ends after Dusk on the Day 5.

The End of the Contest

After tallying all Glory earned during Dusk of the fifth day, the Contest ends, the Player with the most Glory wins, and the Patron God of Kleos is declared! In the event of a tie, all tied players should use the following tie-breakers:

Whoever earned the most points by controlling City Locations on the final day of the Contest
Whichever player's Champion is on the highest value City Location
Whoever controls the most Epic Minions
Whoever has the most total Minions on City Locations

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does my card activate whenever my Minion rolls an Attack check, or only when it makes an Attack action? A: If a card mentions that it activates when a player makes an Attack action, it only activates when a player has taken the action, not when their Minion retaliates after being attacked by another Minion. If a card mentions that it activates whenever a Minion attacks, that would include retaliation and Opportunity Attacks.

Q: Can I discard Winged Sandals, Athena's Owl, or Aura of Phobos & Deimos during my Dusk Phase to draw an extra card from the Fates Deck? A: No, because the card is returned to your hand when it would be sent to Hades, or in this case discarded. These cards are key to your strategy and cannot be discarded to draw an extra card from the Fates Deck.

Q: Can I play Athena's card Defensive Formation on a Minion already at the combat's location to gain the Tactics benefit to Defense? A: Yes, you can choose a Minion at that location to add its Tactics to Defense as well as Attack. However, you may not choose the Minion involved in the combat.

Q: If I play Eris' Influence or Divine Madness on one of my own Minions and it gains Glory, do I gain double the amount of Glory? A: No, you only gain Glory once. If it is played on another player's Minion and that Minion gains glory as a result, then both you and the other player would gain the appropriate amount of Glory.

Glossary: Important Terms

City Locations: The Port, Market, Arena, and Theater
Glory: The victory points of the game. Earned from killing enemies, controlling key parts of the city at the end of a day, and recruiting Epic Minions. Collecting Glory is the goal of the game.
Godly Dice: When instructed to roll "Godly Dice," the dice succeed on the Godly face as well as the success face.
Hades: The shared discard pile for all decks. All cards are placed into Hades when they are used, discarded, or die, regardless of the deck they came from.
Location: Any of the individual hexes on the game board.
Olympus' Favor: Having the Olympus' Favor Token makes all of a Minion's dice Godly on any dice roll. Only one Minion in the game may have Olympus' Favor at any one time. If another Minion gains Olympus' Favor, the Minion that had it previously loses it immediately.
Round: One day of the Contest. The sequence of each player taking their turn during that day of the Contest.
Success: When rolling dice, any die that lands on a success face is tallied as a success.