Line of Fire: Burnt Moon Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• GAMEPLAY MANUAL
  • Components
  • Setup
  • How to Play
    • 1. Draw Cards
    • 2. Determine Initiative
    • 3. Player Turns
  • Playing a Personnel Card
  • Playing an ROV Card
    • Deploying ROV
  • Playing an Interference Card
  • Ending the Game
  • Further Concepts
    • Force Cohesion
    • Lane Limits
    • Matching
    • Majority
    • Scanning
    • Ready/Disrupted
    • Fortifications
    • Inflict a Casualty
  • Example Player Turn
• ACTION MANUAL
  • ROV Card Actions
    • Attack
    • Control
    • Demo
    • Fortify
    • Move
    • Recon
    • Shock
  • Personnel Card Actions
    • Blast
    • Bolster (X)
    • Command (X)
    • Counter

GAMEPLAY MANUAL

Components

• 12 Personnel cards (6 per faction)
• 56 ROV cards (28 per faction)
• 12 Interference cards (6 per faction)
• 1 Initiative card
• 4 Player aid cards (2 per faction)
• 10 Site tiles (5 per faction)
• 6 Fortification tiles (3 per faction)

Player aid cards list the options for each card type:

• ROV card options: 1. Deploy card to lane. 2. Activate a ready, matching, deployed ROV. 3. Ready a matching, deployed ROV. 4. Hunker Down, returning card to supply.
• Personnel card options: 1. Card Action, perform a listed action. 2. Hunker Down, returning card to supply.
• ROV actions: ATTACK to target an enemy ROV in lane. CONTROL to flip your Site in this lane to controlled; unflip to opponent control. DEMO to remove a Fortification in lane from the game. FORTIFY to place a Fortification in lane. MOVE to an adjacent lane. RECON to remove an Interference in hand from the game. Draw replacement. SHOCK to disrupt enemy ROV in lane.
• Personnel actions: BLAST to disrupt 1 or 2 ROV in a lane. Return the used Personnel card to supply. BOLSTER to add cards from your supply to discard. COMMAND to draw cards from your deck. COUNTER to make your opponent return their Disposal Tech / Decom card to their supply. OVERCLOCK to play your next ROV card twice (not for Deploy or Hunker Down). REDEPLOY to move a friendly, ready ROV between lanes. STRIKE to inflict a casualty in any lane. WITHDRAW to move friendly ROV from a lane to your discard.

Setup

1. Choose a faction each. Take all cards of that faction.
2. Flip your five Site tiles to their uncontrolled (without faction icon) side and shuffle them.
3. Place them next to each other at random in the centre of the play area. Align them with your opponent's sites to form five lanes with space below them to play cards to.
4. Find the nine cards with XX in the bottom right corner to form your starting deck.
5. Shuffle that deck thoroughly and place it face down next to you. Leave space for your own face-up discard pile.
6. Separate all other cards by type and force, and place them into twelve face-up piles to form the supply. Place these cards and your Fortification tiles next to you.
7. Randomly determine who begins with the initiative. Flip the Initiative card to show this player's faction and place it in the centre of the play area, next to the Site tiles.
8. Beginning with the player with the initiative, each place one of your MOSS A cards from your supply into one of the five lanes. The second player cannot place their MOSS into the same lane as the first player.
9. Start the game with the first phase, 'Draw Cards'.

How to Play

Play takes the form of a series of rounds.

Each round consists of three phases:

1. DRAW CARDS
2. DETERMINE INITIATIVE
3. PLAYER TURNS

Once the last phase is complete, the round is over and the next round begins.

This continues until one player wins.

1. Draw Cards

Both players simultaneously draw four cards from their deck to form a hand.

If you empty your deck, shuffle your discard pile into a new deck and continue drawing cards.

2. Determine Initiative

Both players secretly select one card from their hand and reveal it simultaneously. The player who selected the card with the highest initiative wins, flipping the Initiative card so it shows their faction's icon. That player will perform all of their actions first during this round.

In the case of a tie, the player whose faction is showing on the initiative card keeps the initiative.

Both players discard their chosen card.

This step should always occur before Player Turns, including during the first round.

3. Player Turns

The player with the initiative plays cards from their hand, one at a time.

Once they have no more cards in their hand that they can (or wish to) play, their turn ends and they discard any remaining cards.

The player without the initiative then takes their turn in the same way.

You cannot save cards in your hand for future rounds.

Playing a Personnel Card

Personnel cards represent the various people directing ROV. They cannot inhabit the surface of Io and are never played to lanes.

Whenever you play a Personnel card, use it to do one of the following:

• Card action: perform one of the listed actions, then discard the card.
• Hunker down: return the card to your supply.

Playing an ROV Card

ROV are the 4 varieties of robot-like vehicles on the surface of Io: the multi-purpose MOSS, agile survey drone xED, defensive DaCU, and aggressive incident response TIR.

Whenever you play an ROV card, use it to do one of the following:

• Deploy: place the played card into one of the five lanes. It is now deployed.
• Activate: perform an action with a matching, ready, deployed ROV card, then discard the played card.
• Ready: ready a matching, deployed ROV card that has been disrupted, then discard the played card.
• Hunker down: return the played card to your supply.

Deploying ROV

Play an ROV card from your hand into one of the five lanes, making sure to follow the Force Cohesion (p.20) and Scanning (p.24) rules.

Place the card on top of any of your other ROV already in the lane. The top strip of each card must be visible to both players.

ROV cards are deployed 'ready'.

You can deploy any number of ROV cards of the same type and force (e.g. xEDs from Force A), either in the same lane or across lanes.

Playing an Interference Card

You cannot play Interference cards during your turn, only when determining initiative.

Usually, an Interference card will stay in your hand until the end of your turn, when you will discard it as normal.

The only way to remove an Interference card from your deck is to take a Recon action (see p. 9 in the Action Manual).

Ending the Game

You win the game immediately if, during your turn, either:

• You control lanes with a combined total of at least 8 control points (control points are found on sites); or
• Every lane is free of your opponent's MOSS-type ROV.

Further Concepts

Force Cohesion

A player may never have cards belonging to Force A and Force B in the same lane.

The Force Cohesion rule applies to each player separately.

Lane Limits

There is no limit to the number of cards in a lane.

Each player can have a maximum of one Fortification tile in each lane.

Matching

One of your ROV with the same type and force.

Majority

Majority enables or modifies certain actions, in particular Attack and Control.

In each lane, a side may hold majority status. To determine if a side has the majority in a lane, each player must do the following:

1. Count their ready ROV cards in the lane (don't count disrupted cards).
2. Add 1 if they control their site in the lane.
3. Add 1 if they have a Fortification tile in the lane.

If one player's total is higher than the other's, that player has majority in the lane.

If the totals are tied, no one has a majority.

An illustrated example shows one side totalling 2 (+1 ready ROV, +1 controlled site) against the other side totalling 3 (+1 ready ROV, +1 ready ROV, +1 Fortification), giving the second side majority.

Scanning

When you move or deploy an ROV card, you must take an Interference card from your supply and add it to your discard pile unless one or more of these conditions is true:

• You already have one or more ready ROV cards in the lane (disrupted ROV cards don't count);
• The ROV is an xED (see the scanning icon on the card);
• You control the lane (see the icon on the site);
• You don't have any Interference cards left in your supply.

Do not take an Interference card when deploying the MOSS A card during the setup.

It is possible to receive Interference cards multiple times from the same lane.

Ready/Disrupted

Deployed ROV cards can be either ready (oriented vertically) or disrupted (horizontally).

Disrupted ROV cards cannot be activated and are effectively 'turned off'.

ROV cards are deployed 'ready'. They can become disrupted by the Shock and Blast actions (see p.9 or p.11 in the Action Manual).

A disrupted ROV card can be readied by discarding a matching card from your hand in a future turn (see p.15).

A disrupted ROV does not count towards majority calculations (see p.22).

A disrupted ROV does not provide any Lane Effect (see p. 3 in the Action Manual).

Fortifications

Fortifications are placed into lanes by the Fortify action and removed from the game by the Demo action (see p. 7 and p. 8 in the Action Manual).

Inflict a Casualty

The Attack action and Strike action instruct you to inflict a casualty on a targeted ROV (see p.4 and p.13 in the Action Manual). When this happens, your opponent must find an ROV card that matches the target and remove it from the game.

1. If possible, they must remove a matching card from their hand.
2. Otherwise, they must remove a matching card from their discard pile.
3. Otherwise, they must remove a matching card from their deck. They must then shuffle their deck.
4. If they do not have a matching card in their hand, discard pile, or deck, they must remove the target (the deployed ROV card) itself.

Example Player Turn

After winning the initiative as POSIWID, Liz has three cards remaining in hand: a Decom and two MOSS B.

Liz plays the Decom for its Strike action (1). Liz targets the LFA xED A in the leftmost lane (2). The LFA player, Sam, searches for an xED A card. The first card he finds is in his hand, so he removes it from the game (3). Liz discards her Decom (4).

Next, Liz deploys a MOSS B. She deploys the card to the empty second lane (1) and places an Interference from her supply into her discard (2).

Finally, Liz plays the second MOSS B from her hand to activate the one she just played (3). The action she chooses is Control, so she checks for majority and then flips the Site to show that her side controls it (4). She then discards the MOSS B in her hand (5).

Liz has no cards remaining in hand, so she ends her turn. Now Sam would take his turn.

ACTION MANUAL

ROV Card Actions

When playing an ROV card from your hand, choose an action on one of your matching, ready, deployed ROV cards; and then perform the chosen action in full.

After the action, discard the played card.

Anatomy of an ROV card: Type (MOSS, xED, DaCU, TIR); Initiative; Base Defence Value; Lane Effect; Force; Actions.

Attack

To perform an Attack action, follow these steps:

1. Choose an enemy ROV in the same lane as the activated ROV. This is the target of your attack.
2. Determine the total attack value: a. The base value is indicated on the Attack action. If you have a majority in the lane, use the first (higher) value. Otherwise, use the second value. b. Add 1 if you have at least one ready TIR card in this lane, as shown by the icon.
3. Determine the target's total defence value: a. The base value is indicated on the top of the target's ROV card. b. Add the value indicated on the defender's Site in this lane. c. Add 1 if there is at least one ready, defender DaCU card in this lane, as shown by the icon. d. Add 1 if there is a defender Fortification in this lane, as shown by the icon.
4. If the total attack value meets or exceeds the total defence value, inflict a casualty on the targeted ROV, as described on p.29 of the Gameplay Manual. Otherwise, nothing happens.

An Example Attack: The TIR targets the xED, and succeeds in its attack with a total attack of 4 (Attack 3 + 1 attack bonus) compared to a total defence value of 4 (base defence 3 + 1 Fortification).

Control

Flip your Site tile in the activated ROV's lane to its controlled side. If your opponent had control of this lane, flip their Site tile to its uncontrolled side as well.

You must have a majority in the lane containing the activated ROV card to choose this action.

Only one player can control a lane at a time.

Demo

Destroy an enemy Fortification tile in the same lane as the activated ROV card.

Remove the Fortification from the game. Do not put it back in your supply.

Fortify

Take one of the Fortification tiles from your supply and place into the same lane as the activated ROV card.

You cannot take this action if you already have a Fortification in this lane or if you have no Fortifications left in your supply.

Move

Move the activated ROV card to an adjacent lane, making sure to follow the Force Cohesion and Scanning rules (see p.20 and p.24 in the Gameplay Manual).

Recon

Remove an Interference card in your hand from the game. Draw a card from your deck to replace it, reshuffling if necessary.

Reminder: As with all other ROV actions, you must activate a deployed, ready, and matching ROV to perform the action.

Shock

Choose a ready, enemy ROV card in the same lane as the activated ROV card and turn it sideways. The chosen card is now disrupted.

Personnel Card Actions

When playing a Personnel card from your hand, choose one of the actions listed on it; perform it in full; and then discard the card (unless otherwise instructed).

Anatomy of a Personnel card: Title, Initiative, Force, Type, Actions.

Blast

Choose one or two ready, enemy ROV cards in any single lane and turn them sideways. The chosen cards are now disrupted.

After a Blast action you must place this Personnel card into your supply (not your discard). You may not play any more cards this round. Instead, discard any remaining cards.

Bolster (X)

Take up to X cards from your supply and add them to your discard pile. Some cards can only bolster from their own force. This restriction is shown by the force icon.

Command (X)

Draw X cards from your deck and add them to your hand. You can play those cards as normal this turn. If your deck runs out before you finish drawing, shuffle your discard pile into a new deck and continue drawing. Do not shuffle this card into your deck.

Counter

Your opponent must find their Disposal Tech / Decom card and return it to their supply. If it is in their deck, they must shuffle their deck afterwards.

Overclock (force icon)

Use the next ROV card you play twice. You can use the card to activate and ready matching ROV cards. You cannot use the card to deploy or hunker down.

The ROV card must match the indicated force in the Overclock action.

The chosen ROV card must be played the same turn.

Redeploy

Choose one of your ready, deployed ROV cards and then deploy it into any other lane, making sure to follow the Force Cohesion and Scanning rules (see p.20 and p.24 in the Gameplay Manual).

Strike

Inflict one casualty on any ROV in any lane.

Withdraw (X)

Choose up to X friendly ROV cards of the indicated force from a single lane. Place the chosen cards into your discard pile. You may choose disrupted and ready ROV cards.