L'Aventure c'est dur
L'Aventure c'est dur Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
Cross the land and slay the dragon.
Crossing the land means covering at least 100 km (80 km when playing with 5 or more players), using terrain cards. Each terrain card shows a distance in kilometres, which is the distance it allows the player to travel.
Fighting the dragon is done with combat cards, which must be accumulated until all of the dragon's hit points have been used up.
Number of Players
2 to 6 players.
Components
- 50 terrain cards: 13 plains, 12 forest, 12 marsh, 11 mountain and 2 bridges.
- 17 monster cards: 4 hags (guenaudes), 4 brigands, 5 goblins, 3 orcs and 1 ogre.
- 31 attack cards, with values from 2 to 10 points, plus one unique Excalibur card that causes 15 points of damage.
- 11 event cards, bearing instructions.
- 1 dragon card, which is set aside at the start of the game.
Setup
All cards, except the dragon card, are shuffled. Each player is dealt 8 cards. The remaining cards are placed face down in the middle of the table to form the draw pile. The dragon card is set aside at the start of the game and is not part of the draw pile.
Turn Structure
The youngest player takes the role of first player.
On their turn, each player must:
- Draw 2 cards from the draw pile.
- If they wish, play up to 2 cards from their hand. These two cards may or may not be of the same type. Any combination of types is allowed. Remember that cards may only be played during your own turn, never during another player's turn.
There is no limit to the number of cards a player may hold in hand.
When the last card of the draw pile has been drawn, the discarded cards are shuffled and placed face down to form the new draw pile.
Cards to Play
Terrain Cards
The first objective of the game is to cover the 100 km that separate you from the dragon (80 km with 5 or more players). Terrain cards played in front of you remain there until you reach the dragon's lair. This allows you to check at any time how many km you have travelled, by adding the distance values of every terrain card played in front of you, and to know the kind of place you are currently in (plains, forest, marsh, mountain or bridge).
To do this, always place the terrain card you play on top of the last terrain card you placed, leaving visible the distance that card allowed you to cover. The last terrain card placed also shows the nature of the place where you are.
The first player who reaches or passes 100 km turns over the dragon card, signifying that they have found its lair, and then acts according to the section "Combat with the Dragon".
"100 km, that's quick!" you may say to yourself, and you would not be wrong. That is why it is possible to slow down an opponent, either because that player seems to be getting a little too close to the goal, or simply because you are allowed to. This is the purpose of a second type of card.
Monster Cards
To prevent a player from progressing toward the dragon, you may play a monster card in front of them. While a monster card is in front of a player, that player may no longer play terrain cards.
Be careful, however: a monster lives in a certain environment. Make sure that the terrain type in which the player you want to target is located matches the terrain where your monster lives. If it does, place your card in front of that player. Only one monster may be placed at a time.
If the current terrain card is the bridge, all monsters can attack. To fight them, you will need the third type of card.
Attack Cards
To kill an opponent, whether an ordinary monster or the dragon itself, you need attack cards.
Each monster has a certain amount of hit points. Likewise, an attack card has a damage value, which it inflicts on your opponent. For example, an attack card of value 3 makes the monster you play it against lose 3 hit points. A monster dies when its total hit points are reduced to 0 or less.
When you play a combat card, it stays placed on the monster card for as long as that monster has hit points. When the monster finally dies, discard its card together with all the combat cards placed on it.
Of course, when one travels the countryside in search of adventure, it is not only monsters that may cause trouble. There are also unforeseen events, and this is where the fourth type of card comes in.
Event Cards
As soon as you play an event card, apply the effects shown on it, then immediately discard it. The only exception is the card "I'm lost!" (je suis paumé !), which stays placed on the targeted player until that player has covered the 100 km required (80 km with 5 or more players).
Combat with the Dragon
The first player who reaches or passes 100 km (or 80 km) turns over the dragon card, signifying that they have found its lair, and discards the terrain cards placed in front of them.
If that player has so far played only one card, they may, in accordance with the rule (if it is possible for them and if they wish to), play an attack card. This begins the final combat against the vile beast.
While the dragon is not dead, each player who reaches or passes 100 km may likewise join the combat (the players thus all face the same dragon).
Combat with the dragon follows the same rules as combat against monsters, with one exception: a player fighting the dragon who plays no card during their turn must discard 3 cards from their hand. If that player has fewer than 3 cards, they discard their entire hand.
It is sometimes good to let the others wear the beast down before coming in to land the final blow, which will earn you all the honours... and perhaps a little resentment as well. However, do not wait too long, for who knows what secret weapon your rivals may hold.
Illustrated Example
The leaflet shows an example layout with four players, with the draw pile and discard pile in the middle of the table. The captions read:
- Player 1: fights the dragon, having covered the 100 km.
- Player 2: fights the dragon, having covered the 100 km.
- Player 3: blocked by an orc that has lost 7 of its 10 hit points.
- Player 4: continues to advance.
Notes on the Source
- The leaflet does not print a separate victory rule or a winner statement. The only statement of the goal is the "Goal of the Game" section above, which is transcribed as printed.
- The French text uses the terms "attack" (attaque) and "combat" (combat) cards for the same attack cards, both in the attack section and in the dragon section. Both terms are kept as printed.
- The leaflet's example caption for Player 1 reads "Combat l dragon", which is a typographical error in the source for "Combat le dragon". It is rendered here as "fights the dragon".
- Two lines of the source contain typographical errors ("à moins de 3 cartes" for "a moins de 3 cartes", and "combatre" for "combattre"). They are transcribed in sense, not in spelling, and the rules are unaffected.
- The "11 event cards" entry is printed as "comportant des indications..." (bearing instructions...). The leaflet does not list the individual event cards, so none are described here.