Legends of the Arena Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Box Contents
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Objective
  • Sequences
• The Arena
• Actions
  • Action Effects
  • Action Card Anatomy
  • Action Types
  • Striking
  • Block
• Push
• Knock Outs and Winning the Game
• Clarifications
• Lord Grym
• Example Sequence
  • Exchange 1
    • Fitz: Link Up
    • Alysia: Shot
  • Exchange 2
    • Alysia: Defensive Pivot
    • Fitz: Back
  • Exchange 3
    • Alysia: Whirling Leap
    • Fitz: Smash
  • End of Sequence
• Free-for-All Variant
• Arena Variants
• FAQs

Box Contents

• 6 Stock Tokens
• 1 Initiative Token
• 24 Push Tokens
• 9 Fatigue Tokens
• 1 Sand Timer
• 7 Arena Cards (shown), plus 8 Arena Variants
• 2 Portal Tokens
• This Rulebook
• 8 Legends, each with: 1 Bio Card (Basic, Special, Ultimate), Action Cards (Basic, Special, Ultimate), 1 Standee, 1 Reference Card, 1 Card Divider

Plus more stuff for: Lucius (+1 Wolf Standee, +1 Ultimate Action), Lord Grym (+4 Zombie Tokens), and Sabo (+1 Spike Trap Token).

Setup

Legends of the Arena can be played with 2-6 players, either in teams or free-for-all. Teams are recommended if you have 4 or 6 players. The rules below always describe "teams," but if you're playing 1v1 or free-for-all, consider yourself on your own team of one.

1. Assemble the Arena. Place the seven Arena cards in the center of the table in a line, with their long sides touching, starting and ending with the edge cards.
2. Team up. Divide the players into teams. Seat each team on opposite sides of the table, with the Arena dividing the players.
3. Take the Initiative. Flip the Initiative Token to determine which team starts with the Initiative Token.
4. Choose your Legend. Starting with the team that lost the flip and then alternating, each player selects a Legend and takes all of their corresponding cards and tokens.
5. Get in position. Each team places their Legend standees one space left of the center space. All Legend standees should face the center of the Arena (the arrow at the bottom of the standee indicates facing). Place your team's Portal token in the same space as your team.
6. Ready yourself. Set up your Legend:
   • Put your Basic cards (black border) into your hand.
   • Put your Ultimate card (Legend-colored border) on the table in front of you face up.
   • Shuffle your Special cards (silver border) and place them face-down on top of your Ultimate. This stack of cards is called your Meter.
   • Put any other items that belong to your Legend (like tokens) next to you.
   • Perform Setup instructions written on your Legend's bio card (if any).
   • Place a Fatigue token on your bio card in the start position.

Gameplay

Objective

The goal of the game is to deplete the opposing team's Stocks. Stocks protect your team from losing; each time you or your teammate(s) are Knocked Out of the Arena you expend a Stock. If you have no Stocks, you lose the game. Knock Out your opponents before they do the same to you!

Sequences

Legends of the Arena is played over a series of sequences. Each sequence, players create a stack of three Actions for their Legend to perform. Each of those Actions happens in an exchange; the order of Actions within an exchange depends on their Speed.

Each sequence follows these steps:

1. Draw. Each player draws the top card of their Meter.
2. Select 3 Cards. Each player selects three Action cards from their hand and places them face-down in an Action stack. (The top card of the stack will be played first in the next step).

You can choose to play with the included 1-minute timer when selecting cards in step 2. We recommend using the timer for games with 4 or more players. The first team to place all of their Action stacks face-down may flip the timer. Other teams must place their Action stacks before the timer expires, or they forfeit their Actions for that sequence.

If your Meter is empty, before drawing, you may shuffle all of your Special cards in your discard pile and in your hand together, then place them face-down to form a new Meter stack. Note - you can skip creating a new Meter stack (and drawing a card) if you prefer to keep the Special cards you already have in your hand.

3. Resolve 3 Exchanges. Each sequence has three exchanges, each of which contains one Action card from every Legend. Resolve an exchange by doing the following:

   • Reveal. Each player simultaneously flips the top card of their Action stack. Fitz flips Smash and Alysia flips Step. Step has 95 Speed and Smash only has 50, so Alysia's Action resolves first.
   • Effect. Perform each Action's Effect in order of its Speed, from highest to lowest. Allies with the same Speed may choose who goes first. If Legends on opposing teams have the same Speed, the Legend whose team has the Initiative goes first.
   • Push. If any Push tokens are on a Legend, Push that Legend that many spaces in the direction of the Push tokens. If a Legend is Pushed out of the Arena, they are Knocked Out. (See Push on page 22 for more details.) Then remove all Push tokens from all Legends.

   Work as a Team! Keep your hand secret from your opponents, but you can show your teammate any cards and tokens you have and coordinate your plans.

4. Recover Action cards. Your Legend has three tiers of Action cards. In addition to indicating their general power level, card tier affects where that card goes after the sequence:

   • Basic (black border). Your Legend's basic utility techniques. Basic cards return directly to your hand after the sequence.
   • Special (silver border). Your Legend's signature strategies. Special cards are placed in your discard pile after the sequence. (See page 11 for how to get them back.)

Continue playing sequences until one team wins!

The Arena

The Arena is a line of seven cards. These cards are spaces that can be occupied by one or more Legends.

The cards at either end of the Arena are the edges. Legends that move out of the Arena (past an edge) are Knocked Out. Anything else that moves out of the Arena is removed. Edges have special recovery rules, and some Effects have specific interactions with edges.

Actions

You have a hand of Action cards used to attack and outmaneuver your foes. Action cards have a variety of Effects, and each Legend's collection of cards is unique.

Action Effects

When an Action resolves, its Effect happens. Each component of an Effect happens in reading order, from top to bottom. You must perform all components of an Action's Effect.

Action Card Anatomy

1. Name: The name of this Action card.
2. Speed: Actions with higher Speed resolve first. (The lowest Speed is 0 and the highest is 99.)
3. Tier: The border of an Action card indicates its tier: black for Basic, silver for Special, and Legend-colored for Ultimate.
4. Effect: What happens when this Action resolves.
5. Summary: An icon summary of the Effect. (This is just a compact reminder. You don't need to memorize any of these icons, and they don't tell you anything different than what's written in the Effect.)

Action Types

Move. To Move, move your Legend standee that many spaces. Moving will specify a direction: to Move forward, move in the direction that your Legend is currently facing, and to Move backward, move opposite to the direction that your Legend is currently facing.

Turn. To Turn, rotate your Legend standee to face the opposite direction (Legends must face one end of the Arena or the other).

Strike. Striking is your means to inflict Fatigue on your foes, apply Push tokens to them, and ultimately knock them out of the Arena.

If you are on an edge at the end of a move, you Turn to face the center of the Arena and Move 1 forward. Beware: You can move past the edge and knock yourself out!

Striking

To Strike, follow the steps below:

1. Target. Find a target for your Strike:

   • A. Target the nearest foe within your Strike's range in the direction your Legend is facing (you always face foes in your space).
   • B. If there are multiple nearest foes (foes are Legends and other fighters that are not on your team), you target the one with the lowest Speed this exchange (ignore the Initiative).
   • C. If there are multiple foes with the same Speed, you target the one with the least Fatigue.
   • D. If you can still target multiple foes under the above conditions, you choose which foe to target.
   • E. If there are no foes targeted, your Strike doesn't hit; skip the rest of the Strike steps.

   To summarize tiebreakers: closest, then slowest, then lowest Fatigue.

2. Force. Each Strike specifies a Force value. Check to see if your Force overcomes their Block:

   • A. If your Force isn't greater than your foe's Block, your Strike is blocked; skip the rest of the Strike steps (this still counts as a hit).
   • B. Your foe moves their Fatigue token one space to the right (regardless of how much Force is applied).
   • C. Subtract the foe's Block value from your Force. (Block is not depleted and applies fully to every Strike this exchange!)
   • D. Starting from the foe's Fatigue token, count a number of spaces to the right on their Push track equal to your remaining Force (do not move the Fatigue token).
   • E. Place a number of Push tokens on the target equal to the Push number at the top of the track. The direction of the Push tokens matches your facing.

Block

Block reduces each incoming Strike's Force by the Block amount for the rest of the exchange. Once the exchange ends, the Block from that Action no longer applies.

Push

The last step of each exchange is to Push all Legends with Push tokens on them. If a Legend is Pushed out of the Arena, they are Knocked Out!

To Push a Legend, follow the steps below:

1. Push. For each Push token on the Legend, move them one space in that token's direction. Legends can be Pushed past the edge of the Arena. Then remove all Push tokens.
2. Grab the edge. If the Legend was Pushed onto an edge, they Turn to face the center of the Arena and Move 1 forward (bringing them back into the Arena).
3. Knock Out! If the Legend was Pushed 1 or more spaces out of the Arena, they are Knocked Out.

Push tokens in opposite directions cancel each other out. If a Legend ever has Push tokens facing in opposite directions, remove one in each direction until all of their tokens face the same direction.

Knock Outs and Winning the Game

When your Legend is Knocked Out, remove one Stock from your team. Then one of two things happens:

• If your team has at least one Stock left, place your Legend standee on the space with your Portal, facing the direction of your choice.
• If your team has no Stocks remaining, the other team immediately wins!

Sometimes Legends from both teams can be Knocked Out at the same time. If this would cause both teams to win simultaneously, the winner is chosen by a tiebreaker in the following order:

1. The team that suffered fewer Knock Outs that exchange.
2. The team that Pushed a foe the furthest out of the Arena that exchange.

If both of the above are equal, the game ends in a tie!

Clarifications

• Once a Fatigue token reaches the end of the Fatigue track, it no longer advances. However, Legends are still Fatigued any time they are hit with Force greater than their Block.
• The team with the Initiative goes first if there is a tie between the Speeds of Action cards. The Initiative is not used for targeting tiebreakers.
• Some cards like "Perfect Timing" cause Actions to be resolved in different exchanges. The Speed of those Actions is still used as a tiebreaker in the exchange they were played in.
• If "Let's Do That Again" is played there will be 6 total exchanges, with the 6th exchange as the final exchange.
• During the Push step, Push tokens are resolved one at a time. If you gain additional Push tokens while being Pushed, continue to resolve those Push tokens as part of this Push step (canceling opposing pairs first). No Legends are Knocked Out until all Legends have finished resolving Push tokens.

Lord Grym

• To summon a Zombie or Coffin, place the appropriate token in the specified space. This does not count as a move. If all tokens are in the Arena, you choose one to remove first.
• When a Zombie is Fatigued it becomes a Coffin. It still counts as a target for the remainder of that Effect, but it cannot be Pushed or Pulled.
• Coffins are not fighters (Zombies and Legends are fighters) and are ignored by any Effects.
• If a Coffin or Zombie is on an edge or no longer in the Arena it is removed.

Example Sequence

Both players select three cards and play them face down. Then they each flip their top card.

Exchange 1

Fitz reveals "Link Up" and Alysia reveals "Shot."

Fitz's "Link Up" has 72 Speed, so he resolves first.

Fitz: Link Up

Fitz hits Alysia with 1 Force. Alysia takes her first Fatigue and moves her Fatigue token one space to the right. No Push tokens are applied due to the text on "Link Up", but she is immediately Pulled to Fitz's space.

Alysia: Shot

Then Alysia attempts to use "Shot", but this misses because Fitz is in her space (and "Shot" only hits at range 1+).

No one has Push tokens, so players proceed to the second exchange and reveal their cards.

Exchange 2

Fitz reveals "Back" and Alysia reveals "Defensive Pivot."

Alysia's "Defensive Pivot" has 80 Speed, so she resolves first.

Alysia: Defensive Pivot

In the second exchange, Alysia adds 2 Block and chooses not to Turn. This Block would come in handy if Fitz had attempted to Strike...

Fitz: Back

...but instead he backs towards the edge and chooses to Turn away from his foe (maybe he has a plan!).

Exchange 3

Fitz reveals "Smash" and Alysia reveals "Whirling Leap."

Alysia's "Whirling Leap" has 75 Speed, so she resolves first.

Alysia: Whirling Leap

Alysia charges in first with Whirling Leap. She's already facing the right way, so she moves to Fitz and Strikes with 1 Force. Fitz moves his Fatigue token one space to the right, but does not take Push tokens.

Fitz: Smash

Fitz Strikes back for 3 Force, which gives Alysia one Fatigue (remember - Fatigue only moves up one space at a time) and one Push token.

Because he's facing the edge of the Arena, the Push token he gives Alysia points towards the edge (so that's why he turned last exchange!).

At the end of the exchange, Alysia is Pushed onto the edge. Since she ended her move on an edge, she Turns toward the center of the Arena and Moves 1 forward. One more Push token and she would have been Knocked Out!

End of Sequence

Now the sequence is over. Fitz returns "Back" and "Smash" to his hand. Alysia returns "Shot" and "Defensive Pivot" to her hand. "Link Up" and "Whirling Leap" are discarded because they are Special cards.

Finally a new sequence begins with each player drawing a card!

Free-for-All Variant

In the free-for-all each player is on their own team. Each Legend is vying to be the first to score two Knock Outs. Players are not eliminated; they return to the Portal in the Arena immediately after being Knocked Out.

All prior rules apply with the following modifications:

• Players are seated randomly around the table. Give the Initiative to a random player.
• A single Portal is placed in the center space. All Legends start there, facing the same direction. All Legends start with 2 Fatigue.
• Do not give Legends Stock tokens; Legends always return to the Portal with 2 Fatigue after being Knocked Out. Instead use the Stock tokens to track how many Knock Outs each player has scored.
• The game ends when one Legend scores two Knock Outs.
• If there is a Speed tie, the player with the Initiative goes first, followed by the player to their left (continue around the table clockwise if more than two players are tied).
• When a Legend is Knocked Out, the last Legend to have applied a Push token in the direction of the Push scores the Knock Out.
• If a Legend without Push tokens would be Knocked Out, they return to the Portal instead. They choose their facing and keep their Fatigue.
• There is a new winning tiebreaker, checked before the other tiebreakers. The Legend that scored the most Knock Outs in that exchange wins if multiple Legends reach two Knock Outs in the same exchange.
• When deciding between multiple foes to target, pick the closest, lowest Fatigue, then the slowest (the last two tiebreakers are swapped from their order in team games).

Arena Variants

Once you are familiar with how to play, challenge yourself with Arena Variants. Each Arena Variant evokes a specific Legend - often telling part of their story or favoring their strategy. Pick a single Arena Variant and follow the setup instructions to incorporate it into the Arena. Here are some rule clarifications that may come up when playing with Arena Variants:

• If a card is dropped, place that card on top of the specified Arena space (underneath any fighters or tokens in that space). The rules of the space underneath the card still apply.
• Only the Legend that holds a card gets the associated Effects (for example, Lord Grym's Zombies do not get additional Force if he holds Alysia's Axe).
• Arenas may not have edges. If an Arena does not have edges but an Effect checks for an edge, no edge is found.
• If a Legend moves out of the Arena, they are Knocked Out.
• A space is empty if there are no fighters or tokens present in that space. A space with only Portal token is considered empty.

Arena Variant setup instructions use the following icons, labeled as printed: Replace center, Replace edges, and Replace all cards.

FAQs

• Numbers are exact. For example, a range of 1-2 does not include 0.
• Legends in the same space are always considered to be facing each other.
• If an Effect could target multiple foes, pick the closest. If there is a tie, pick the foe with the slowest, then the foe with the lowest Fatigue. If there is still a tie, you pick. In a free-for-all, lowest Fatigue is picked before slowest.
• The full amount of Block is applied to each following Strike in that exchange. Block is not depleted by Force.
• No matter how much Force is dealt, only a single Fatigue is applied.
• A Strike is still considered to hit even if all Force is blocked.
• Push tokens are resolved after each exchange.
• If a Legend is on an edge at the end of a move, they face the center of the Arena and Move 1 forward.
• Basic (black-bordered) cards are always returned to hand after each sequence.
• If your Meter (deck) is empty when you would draw a card, you may shuffle all of your Special cards (from your hand and discard) into a new deck first.