Marvel Contest of Champions: Battlerealm Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• The Components
• The Setup
• Goal of the Game
• Gameplay Overview
  • Turn Order
  • 1) Roll and Re-Roll Dice
  • 2) Finalize Dice Results
  • 3) Resolve Dice
  • 4) End of Turn
• The Custom Dice
• Dice Actions
• The Locations
• The Special Abilities
• The Super Heroes
• Using Your Powers
• Eliminating a Hero
• Notable Terms & Keywords
• Select Location Card Clarification
  • Crystal Prison
  • The Kyln
  • The Ghost Orchid
  • Avengers Tower
  • Collector's Cosmic Warehouse
• Select Power Card Clarification
  • Odin's Wrath
  • Physical Disruption
  • World Breaker
  • Panther's Stealth
  • Raptor Strike

The Components

• 52 Power Cards – 4 per Hero
• 13 Character Cards
• 40 Location Cards
• 6 Custom six-sided dice
• 14 Standees

The Setup

Each player chooses a Hero to play and takes that Hero's Character card, standee and Power Cards. Character Card and Power Cards are placed face-up in front of the players. Set the Hero's PVP Point counter to it's starting position (red number). Randomly choose Location Cards (one for each player plus one additional) and place them in a circle in the center of the playing surface. Then place the Crystal Prison inside the circle. Each Hero is then placed on a starting Location Card chosen by the player. The youngest player places first, with other players placing in clockwise order. A Hero can start on the same Location Card as another Hero or an empty Location Card. No Heroes may be placed in the Crystal Prison. Play begins with the youngest player and also proceeds clockwise.

Callout (printed beside the setup diagram): Heroes do gain PVP Points for landing on the starting location during set up.

Goal of the Game

The game ends when only one Hero remains standing (is still in the game and not in the Prison) or when one Hero reaches a total of 21 PVP Points. Note: The game ends immediately if one Hero manages to reach 21 PVP Points at any point during their turn.

Gameplay Overview

Turn Order

1. Roll and Re-Roll Dice
2. Finalize Dice results
3. Resolve Dice
4. End of Turn

1) Roll and Re-Roll Dice

The acting player rolls the six custom dice and checks the dice results. The player may choose to re-roll any or all of the six dice up to two times. Only the Mutant and Science results that have been locked cannot be re-rolled.

2) Finalize Dice Results

Some primary powers and location abilities may add additional specific dice results to the total after all re-rolls are finished. The Hero may also use their location's ability to alter their dice results as desired or required, including activating any optional location ability. Once all this is resolved the dice are now finalized and cannot be altered.

3) Resolve Dice

The acting player may then use the dice to activate the Hero's Power cards or may take the dice actions. The dice actions, Power Cards and other abilities may be played in any order desired by the acting player provided that none of the game's rules are broken. For example: if a Hero begins in Hell's Kitchen and gains an additional Skill result and then moves to the Moon, then that Hero would not gain the additional Skill result as your dice results are finalized before you can perform any of the dice actions, including moving. But if the Hero moved to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Hanger they could treat the additional Skill result from Hell's Kitchen as Tech since this does not alter the results total.

Any Mutant or Science dice that resulted in an Explosion or Crystal Prison sentence cannot be used to activate Power cards. The Hero must take these mandatory actions sometime during their turn. As soon as a Hero enters the Crystal Prison, their turn is over. If both triple Mutant and triple Science are rolled, resolve the Science results first.

4) End of Turn

Heroes will gain or lose PVP Points as required by the dice actions performed, Power Cards played, special abilities used and the locations entered. If any Heroes are reduced to zero PVP Points they are eliminated from the game (see Eliminating a Hero on Page 4).

The Custom Dice

Contest of Champions uses 6 custom six-sided dice for combat, movement and to trigger each Hero's special abilities. The dice symbols are: Mutant, Science, Skill, Tech, Cosmic and Mystic.

Dice Actions

• Mutant – When a Mutant is rolled, that individual die is locked and cannot be re-rolled that turn. Rolling one Mutant does nothing on its own, but rolling three Mutant sends the Hero to the Crystal Prison location where they cannot Attack or be Attacked. The Hero must remain there until any set of triples are rolled, instead of the usual Cosmic result needed to change locations. The results of this set of triples are ignored when using them to escape from the Crystal Prison.
• Science – When a Science is rolled, that individual die is locked and cannot be re-rolled that turn. Rolling one Science does nothing on its own, but rolling three Science causes an Explosion which causes one PVP Point of damage to all Heroes at the rolling Hero's location. One additional PVP Point of damage is caused for each additional Science rolled above the initial three.
• Skill – For each Skill rolled, the Hero can do one PVP Point of damage to another Hero in the same location as the rolling Hero. Damage can be done to the same or different Heroes as desired.
• Tech – For each Tech rolled, the Hero can do one PVP Point of damage to another Hero in another location than the rolling Hero. Damage can be done to the same or different Heroes as desired, and in either the same or different locations as desired.
• Cosmic – Cosmic dice let the Hero move from one location to another. Only one Cosmic result is needed to move to any location as long as there are no other Heroes in the rolling Hero's starting location, it takes one extra Cosmic result for each additional Hero at the starting location to leave that location. Some locations, like The Kyln, also have specific additional requirements to leave.
• Mystic – The Hero gains a single PVP Point for each Mystic rolled.

The Locations

There are 40 Location Cards that represent key locations in the Battlerealm. Each Location Card has the location's name in the top right hand corner of the card and the location's ability along the bottom of the card. Any Hero on a given location can use the location ability on that card, while a few of the locations, like The Kyln, Crystal Prison and Deep Space have abilities that must be followed by all Heroes at that location.

A Locaton Card's top left corner has a PVP Point number showing how many PVP Points (0-3) a Hero will gain when they first land on the location during their turn. A Hero may gain PVP Points from landing on multiple locations in one turn. If your Hero remains on the same location from one turn to the next, your Hero will not gain any additional PVP Points for that location each turn, as your Hero only gains the PVP Points when your Hero first lands on it.

Diagram labels (Avengers Tower card shown as the example): PVP Point Number (top left), Location Name (top right), Location Ability (bottom).

The Special Abilities

There are 10 special abilities that a Hero could have:

• Careful: – It requires four Science results, not three, for the Hero to cause an Explosion.
• Cunning: – Each time another Hero is eliminated from the game, the Cunning Hero gains an additional 3 PVP Points, regardless of who eliminated the Hero from the game.
• Elusive: – The Hero ignores the first PVP Point of damage done by each Attack from another location.
• Flight: – The Hero may leave a location with only one Cosmic result, regardless of the number of Heroes in that location, and may enter locations that are restricted to flying Heroes only.
• Gifted: – The Hero gains one additional PVP Point whenever one or more Mystic are rolled.
• Honest: – It requires four Mutant, not three, to put the Honest Hero into the Crystal Prison.
• Lucky: – The Hero may re-roll any single die result one additional time each turn, including both Mutant and Science results, even if there were already three of them rolled.
• Peaceful: – If the Hero did not roll any Skill or Tech results in a turn, they gain 2 PVP Points.
• Survivor: – When the Hero loses their last PVP Point, they are not removed until the end of their next turn, provided that they are not in the Crystal Prison or one of the last two remaining Heroes. This gives the Hero a chance to recover PVP Points on the following turn and avoid being eliminated.
• Tough: – The Hero ignores the first PVP Point of damage done by each Attack from the same location. An Explosion is not an Attack.

Note: When playing with inexperienced players it is recommended to ignore the special abilities of your Heroes as you learn the game.

A Hero can never cause damage to themself.

The Super Heroes

Contest of Champions includes 13 different Heroes. Each Hero has a Character Card, four Power Cards and a standee containing the Hero's image. The Hero's Character Card contains the Hero's primary power, special abilities and a counter to keep track of the Hero's PVP Points. The Hero's starting PVP Point value is in red. The Hero's four Power Cards contain the Hero's secondary powers, which require rolling a specific set of dice to activate.

Character Card diagram labels: Character Name (top), Primary Power, Info, Special Abilities, and the PVP Point Counter (bottom). The printed example is the Hulk, whose primary power is Gamma Rage: "For each PVP Point that the Hulk spends, he can increase the Damage done by his Skill results by one point." His special abilities are Cunning, Peaceful and Tough.

Power Card diagram labels: Secondary Power Name, Dice symbols needed for effect, Character Name. The printed example is the Hulk's Thunderclap power, which reads "The Hulk causes a 5-Damage Burst in his location."

Using Your Powers

There are two types of primary powers. First, there are primary powers that add an additional die result to the Hero's dice roll total or provide the Hero with an additional re-roll for the turn. This type of primary power is only used once per turn when rolling the Hero's combat dice. The second kind of primary powers are constantly in effect during the game. These Special Abilities often make the Hero immune to a specific dice result, or provide them with some other unique advantage or capability.

The Power Cards contain each of the Hero's Secondary powers that can be used only once per turn, but they must be activated by rolling a specific set of dice symbols and "expending" those dice results.

For example: The Hulk's Thunderclap power requires the following combat dice symbols to activate: Mutant, Science, Skill and Skill.

Eliminating a Hero

A Hero is knocked out after the Hero's PVP Points are reduced to zero. This Hero is permanently eliminated from the game. When a Hero is removed from the game, the Hero who landed the final blow gains 3 PVP Points for doing so. In addition, the Location Card that the eliminated Hero was on is permanently removed from the game, reducing the total number of Location cards in the game by one. Any other Heroes that were on the eliminated Location Card must transfer to either one of the adjacent locations as desired. Remember, the Crystal Prison card cannot be removed from the game, nor can Heroes choose to move to the Crystal Prison card.

Notable Terms & Keywords

There are a few terms and keywords to remember while playing the game. These terms and keywords will appear on both the various Power Cards and the Location Cards that the Heroes will battle on. These terms and keywords are:

• Adjacent: – Adjacent locations are locations directly to the left and right of the location being targeted.
• Attack: – Attacks are all the damage done by one Hero against another Hero during that Hero's turn from a single location. This can include damage caused by his Power Cards, dice results and location abilities, but not any damage caused by the rolling of the triple Science results or any other effect.
• Blast: – Any power that Attacks a Hero in a different location than the acting Hero's current location is called a Blast. Examples are Ant-Man's Ant Swarm and Hawkeye's Explosive Barrage.
• Block: – A Block allows the Hero to reduce the damage they take by the listed amount from each Attack until the start of their next turn.
• Burst: – Any power that Attacks all other Heroes in a location and the two locations adjacent to it is called a Burst. Examples are Hulk's Thunderclap and Iron Man's Uni-beam.
• Damage: – Damage is just how many PVP Points a Hero loses from an Attack or other effects.
• Destroy: – This lets the Hero Destroy the Location Card indicated by the Hero's Power Card (except for the Crystal Prison), removing that Location Card from the game and replacing it with a new random Location Card. If any Heroes are on the location when it is destroyed they are forced onto one of the locations adjacent to the location being destroyed.
• Disorientated: – A Disorientated Hero only has one re-roll, instead of two, during their next turn.
• Escape: – Escape allows the Hero to leave any location, regardless of its special ability or how many other Heroes are in that location with the Hero, including the The Kyln or Crystal Prison.

Select Location Card Clarification

Crystal Prison

Card text: "Heroes in the Crystal Prison cannot be attacked or attack other Heroes, and the Heroes cannot escape until they are able to roll triples of any die result."

This card is always in play and can never be destroyed. You can never voluntarily move to the Crystal Prison. Players are sent to the Crystal Prison when triple Mutant are rolled. Players can escape by rolling triples of any die results. Once triples are rolled the Players can move to the location of their choice without needing additional Cosmic. The Escape ability can also be used to leave the Crystal Prison and go to any location. Heroes here cannot attack or be attacked.

The Kyln

Card text: "Heroes cannot move from The Kyln unless 3 Cosmic results are rolled."

Heroes in The Kyln can only move after rolling 3 Cosmic results. Additional Cosmic is needed if there are other Heroes present. The escape ability can also be used. Heroes can attack, be attacked, and use powers like other locations unless the power has an element that requires movement.

The Ghost Orchid

Card text: "Heroes in The Ghost Orchid can use their Power Cards for one less dice result of their choice."

The Ghost Orchid allows Heroes to use their secondary power cards for one less dice result. For example, Hawkeye's Incendiary Arrow card could be played with only 2 of the 3 dice results shown on the card such as one Mutant and one Tech or two Mutant.

Avengers Tower

Card text: "Heroes on the Avengers Tower may use any dice results to activate a single Power Card, provided that at least one of the dice symbols is correct."

Heroes here may use any dice results to activate a single power card. At least one of the dice symbols must be correct. For example, Hulk's World Breaker card can use any 4 dice results as long as one of them is a Skill or a Mystic.

Collector's Cosmic Warehouse

Card text: "Heroes at the Collector's Cosmic Warehouse may spend up to 3 PVP points for an additional dice result of their choice for each individual PVP point spent."

Heroes at the Collector's Cosmic Warehouse may spend up to 3 PVP points to gain additional dice results of their choosing. One PVP point for each additional die result.

Select Power Card Clarification

Odin's Wrath

Card text: "Thor may Destroy any one location and the two adjacent locations." Dice needed: Mutant, Mutant, Science, Science.

Destroy all target locations. Heroes are then moved to adjacent locations that remain. In the event that all locations are destroyed, all Heroes go to the first randomly replaced location.. Thor can destroy the location he is currently on.

Physical Disruption

Card text: "Vision can Negate the powers of one Hero." Dice needed: Mutant, Mutant, Mystic.

This power allows Vision to negate the powers of one Hero until the start of Vision's next turn. Negate does not affect powers that have triggered previously.

World Breaker

Card text: "The Hulk Destroys all but one location." Dice needed: Skill, Skill, Mystic, Mystic.

Destroys all target locations. Heroes are then moved to the remaining location. Then replace the destroyed locations. Hulk can destroy the location he is currently on.

Panther's Stealth

Card text: "Black Panther may Escape." Dice needed: Mutant, Cosmic.

Panther's Stealth allows Black Panther to leave any location including the Crystal Prison and The Kyln regardless of the presence of other Heroes. Other similar cards are Five Mile Leap and Repulsor Leap.

Raptor Strike

Card text: "Redwing may move to another location." Dice needed: Mutant, Mystic.

Raptor Strike allows Redwing to move to a new location. Falcon gains the effect from Redwing's location even if Falcon is in the Crystal Prison. This is the only way for Redwing to move.