Legions: Abyss Universe Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Objective
• Setup
  • Legion card
  • Hero card
• Game Turn
  • Determining the Lead
  • First Player
  • Second Player
  • Rallying Routed Legions
• Recruiting a Hero
• Using your Stratagem
• End of the Turn
• End of the Game
• Location Effects
• Stratagems in Detail
  • King of Abyss
  • Necrocampe
• Heroes in Detail
  • Victory Points
  • The Powers
• Factions
• Credits

Game Objective

The great story of the war against the Necrocampe tells how he and his followers managed to infiltrate the Guild network and turn the Lords against their King. It describes how the battle broke out in the very heart of the City of Abyss, and how it pitted Lords, brothers, mothers, and friends against each other.

Replay one of the mythical battles of the Necrocampe against the King of Abyss: Send your Legions to various strategic locations, manage the morale of your troops, and take the lead at the right moment to win the most victory points or collect 5 Banners.

Setup

• A Set the Battlefield board between the two players.
• B Place the 5 Majority tokens on their respective Battlefield spaces.
• C Shuffle the 15 Hero cards and form a face-down deck. Turn over the first 5 and place them in a row.
• D Shuffle the 31 Legion cards (numbered from 1 to 31) and form a face-down deck. Place 2 face up and 1 face down in a separate row.
• E Each player draws 3 Legion cards from the deck to form their hand.
• F Choose who will play the Necrocampe and who will play the King. Randomly take 1 of the 3 Stratagem tokens corresponding to your side (without looking at the effects). Then look at it, place it in front of you, effect side down, and put the others back in the box.

Legion card

1. Color and associated symbol indicate the Legion's Guild.
2. Number, which defines who takes the initiative in a game turn.
3. Reward, which can be one or more victory points, a Banner, or nothing.

Hero card

1. Color and associated symbol indicate the Hero's Guild.
2. Power applied when recruited.
3. Reward, which can be one or more victory points, a Banner, or nothing.

Game Turn

Determining the Lead

Both players simultaneously select a Legion from their hand and place it face down in front of them. They are then revealed at the same time. The player who selected the Legion with the lowest number wins the lead for this turn and plays first.

Example: one player reveals a Legion numbered 6, the other a Legion numbered 27. The player with the 6 wins the lead and plays first.

First Player

If you play first, perform these actions in order:

1. Place your revealed Legion on your side of the Battlefield, in front of the location that is the same color. If you play an Ambassador (white), you can place them in front of the location of your choice.
2. If you meet the requirements, you may recruit 1 Hero (see p. 8 Recruiting a Hero). If you do so, you may then apply their Power, if they have one.
3. Fill your hand to 3 cards by choosing 1 of the 3 Legions in the row, either one of the two face-up ones or the face-down one.

Second Player

If you play second, perform these actions in order:

1. Place your revealed Legion on your side of the Battlefield, in front of the location that is the same color. If you play an Ambassador (white), you can place them in front of the location of your choice.

2. If you meet the requirements, you may recruit 1 Hero (see p. 8 Recruiting a Hero). If you do so, you may then apply their Power, if they have one.

3. Fill your hand to 3 cards by choosing 1 of the 2 Legions remaining in the row.

4. Attack your opponent. The Legion remaining in the row determines where your attack is launched; If it is face down, reveal it. You attack your opponent in the location that is the same color as this Legion. If it is an Ambassador, you choose the location you want.

   All of your opponent's Legions in that location are routed and flipped face down. You may look at your routed Legions at any time.

Rallying Routed Legions

When you play a Legion in front of a location with one or more routed Legions, you can rally one of those Legions of your choice. Flip them face up.

Recruiting a Hero

Recruiting a Hero is recommended, but never mandatory.

If you have 3 Legions face up in front of the same location, you can recruit a Hero from the row who is the same color as that location. If there are no Heroes of that color, you can look at the first two from the top of the deck, choose one of them to recruit, and place the other face down either on top of or at the bottom of the deck, your choice.

If you have at least 1 Legion face up in front of each of the 5 locations, you can recruit the Hero of your choice from the row.

In either case, place the recruited Hero in front of you and slide any 2 of the Legions used to recruit them (your choice) underneath the Hero. The others remain in position in front of their locations. You can then apply the Hero's Power if they have one, all of which are detailed on p. 12. You can only recruit one Hero per turn. Once you have recruited, even if you meet the conditions for another recruitment, you must wait until your next turn.

Example: The King of Abyss has 3 Legions face up in front of the green location, so he can recruit the green Hero. He places 2 of the Legions used for this recruitment underneath the Hero. He cannot recruit the yellow Hero even though he has 3 Legions in front of the yellow location, as 2 of them are routed and face down. If he had a Legion face up in front of the purple location, he could have recruited the Hero of his choice.

Using your Stratagem

Once per game, you can apply the effect of your Stratagem. Flip the token over to indicate that it has been used. If you do not use it, it earns you 2 victory points at the end of the game.

End of the Turn

1. Assign Majorities location by location, in order from yellow to green. At each location, the player with the highest quantity of face-up Legion cards wins the Majority for that location (you must have at least one card on your side to claim the Majority). The corresponding Majority token is moved towards the player with the Majority to indicate that they now benefit from the effect of this location (see p. 11 Location Effects).

   If neither player has more Legions there, return the Majority token to the center space.

   If a player loses the Majority, they no longer benefit from the effect.

2. Check the number of Banners you control. A Banner is controlled as long as it is visible on your side, whether on face-up Legions, Heroes, or a Majority token. At this point, if you control 5 Banners, you win the game.

3. Refill the row of Legions with the top Legions from the deck, so it once again has two face up and one face down.

4. Refill the row of Heroes with the top cards from the deck, so it once again has five Heroes face up.

End of the Game

• The game can end after the Majorities have been assigned if one player controls 5 Banners. In this case, that player wins immediately. There are eight Banners: 5 on the Legions, 1 on the blue location, and 2 on the Politician Heroes (blue).

• The game can also end at the end of a turn if there are not enough Legions left to refill the row. In this case, the victory points are counted from:

  • your Stratagem token, if it has not been used,
  • your recruited Heroes,
  • your Legions under those Heroes,
  • any Majorities you have.

  The player with the most victory points wins the game! In the event of a tie, the player with the Legion in their hand that has the lowest number wins.

  Note: Legion cards placed in front of locations are not counted, they are only used to assign Majorities.

Example: The green Hero earns 2 points + 1 point for each color of Hero recruited = 4 points. The 2 Legions slid underneath earn 4 points. The purple Hero earns 2 points. The Legions slid underneath earn 1 point. The player has the green and purple Majorities, earning 9 points. TOTAL SCORE: 4+4+2+1+9 = 20 points

Location Effects

Each location's Majority token grants its own effect while you hold it, shown as an icon on the Battlefield board:

• Scales icon: Starting as soon as you gain this majority, you win any Majorities where you are tied with your opponent.
• Red banner-with-X icon: When you have this Majority and you place a new Legion in the red location on your side of the Battlefield, you rout any 1 opposing Legion of your choice; they are flipped face down.
• Plume/banner icon: While you have this Majority, it gives you 1 Banner.
• Crossed-arrows icon with a purple Legion: When you have this Majority and you play a purple Legion, you may place it in front of the location of your choice, on your side of the Battlefield. For example, you can place a purple Legion in front of the red location and, if you also have the red Majority, rout an opposing Legion.
• Eye icon: While you have this Majority, you can look at the face-down Legion in the row at any time.

Stratagems in Detail

King of Abyss

• If you have 3 face-up Legions in front of the same location, you can recruit the Hero of your choice from the row.
• When recruiting, if you were to look at the first 2 Heroes from the deck, look at 5 instead, choose 1, and shuffle the other 4 back into the deck.
• At the start of any turn, reserve 1 Hero from the row by putting it at an angle. Your opponent will not be able to recruit them during the game. You may recruit that Hero during your turn if you meet the requirements.

Necrocampe

• At the start of any turn, you can look at your opponent's hand and choose which Legion they will play.
• If you suffer an attack, you can divert it to another location of your choice (on your side of the Battlefield).
• When your opponent refills their hand, choose for them which Legion they will take.

Heroes in Detail

Victory Points

At the end of the game, each recruited Hero earns the victory points indicated on them. Some of them also have specific ways of scoring points, see below.

• This Hero earns 1 point for each location where you do not have the Majority.
• This Hero earns 1 point for each different color of Hero you have recruited.
• This Hero earns 1 point for each Banner you control.
• This Hero doubles the victory points of the Legions that are underneath it.
• These 2 Heroes (a matched pair) each earn 3 points. If you have recruited both, place them side by side to obtain the 2 additional points in the center, for a total of 8 points.

The Powers

Note: When Legions are moved or stolen, they remain in the same state, routed or not.

• You may pick up a Legion (face up or routed) on your side of the Battlefield and add it to your hand. Then place another Legion from your hand in front of the location of your choice, on your side of the Battlefield, regardless of its color.
• You may rally up to 2 of your routed Legions. Flip them over, face up.
• You may move 1 of your Legions on your side of the Battlefield from one location to another, regardless of its color.
• You may choose 1 Legion from under your opponent's Hero and remove it from the game.
• You may steal 1 Legion, routed or not, from your opponent's side of the Battlefield and place it on your side, in front of the same location.
• You may look at your opponent's hand, then exchange 1 of their Legions for 1 from your hand, if you so wish.
• When you recruit this Hero, you may slide a third Legion underneath them, which you can take from anywhere on your side of the Battlefield.
• You may exchange another of your recruited Heroes with one of your choice from the row. Apply their Power if they have one.
• Once recruited, this Hero gives you 1 Banner.
• If you have recruited both of these Heroes (a matched pair), place them side by side. You now have a Banner.

Factions

• Farmers' Guild (yellow)
• Soldiers' Guild (red)
• Politicians' Guild (blue)
• Mages' Guild (purple)
• Merchants' Guild (green)
• Ambassadors' Guild (white)

Credits

A game by Bruno Cathala, Charles Chevallier & Johannes Goupy.

Author of the short story The Battle of Blackreef: Fabien Clavel.

Artwork: Pascal Quidault & Xavier Collette.

English version: Rebecca Sevoz & William Niebling.