Master of Wills Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Game Play Area
• Setup
• Community Cards
• Faction Cards
  • Faction Card Layout
• Start of Play
• On Your Turn
  • 1) Move Phase
  • 2) Draw Phase (if applicable)
  • 3) Faction Phase (if applicable)
  • 4) End of Turn Phase
• End of Game and Winning
• Game Variants
  • MOW 2 vs 2 (play with a partner and team up)
  • Mowitaire (1 player game)
  • 3 Player FFA (three person battle)
  • MOW-OP (Cooperative Play: team up and beat the board)
• Quick Guide
  • Golden Rules
  • Faction Power Icons
  • Phases of Play

Overview

Master of Wills is a 2-4 player game that pits 2 Factions against each other. With each move, additional Community characters are pulled into the game. The game ends after 8 rounds of play and the winner is the player who has gained the most points in their combined rows (Recruits, Loyalists and Allies).

Components

• 120 Community Cards (15 Cards per Community)
• 50 Razorcorp Faction Cards: 19x Action, 12x Epic, 7x Legendary, 12x Neutral
• 50 Alphaguard Faction Cards: 19x Action, 12x Epic, 7x Legendary, 12x Neutral
• 2 Help Cards and Round Marker
• 5 Modular Game Board Tiles

Game Play Area

Left to right (Alphaguard side on the left in the standard layout): Faction Deck, Faction Discard, Community Card Deck, Round Marker placement (on The Afterlife), Faction Discard, Faction Deck. Each player has an Allies row, a Loyalists row and a Recruits row, with the Neutral Row (aka neutral area) in the middle. Each player also has a Round Effect space and Lasting Effect spaces (one for the Loyalists row and one for the Recruits row). Killed cards go to the Afterlife.

An alternative layout places the Round Effect, Lasting Effect and Recruits/Loyalists/Allies tiles on either side of the central Community Deck / Afterlife tile.

Setup

1. Choose a Faction Deck. Each Faction in Master of Wills has a unique play style. Choose a deck and have the opponent choose a deck.
2. Build Your Custom Deck. Each player prepares their custom Faction deck. Each deck must contain the following:
   • 2 - Legendary cards
   • 5 - Epic cards
   • 5 - Neutral cards
   • 8 to 18 - Action cards (only Action cards allow a variance in the number of cards in your deck)
3. Each Player Shuffles and Draws Faction Cards. Both players shuffle their Faction decks and draw 3 cards into their hands. Look at the cards but keep hidden from opponent.
4. Shuffle the Community deck and place it on the board in the marked area.
5. Draw and place 6 Community cards face up in the middle of the game board, also known as the "neutral area."
6. Choose a Starting Player. Both players draw 1 random Community card and reveal it. The player with the highest valued card decides if they would like to go first or allow the opponent to do so. Kill cards and place both in the Afterlife discard pile. If the drawn cards have the same value, kill them and draw 2 more. Continue this process until one player has drawn a higher card and the tie is broken.
7. The Game Begins...

Community Cards

The Community cards generate the points in the game. Even without using a Faction card, you can win the game by choosing the best Community cards to help influence the board. These cards have several important icons/labels:

• Point Value: the card's value in points.
• Starting Position: The metallic header and starting position label directs you to the row your card must be moved to when selected as the Starting card. This is considered the card's starting position. The rows are labeled Recruits (bronze), Loyalists (silver) and Allies (gold).
• Community Sector: Each card has a symbol representing its sector of the Community. The 8 sectors are Activist (purple), Corporation (grey), Entertainer (orange), Government (red), Law Enforcer (blue), Religion (brown), Underground (black), and Union (green).
• Faction Play Icon: When selecting a Community card with a Faction icon as your Starting card, a Faction card is drawn and played.
• Draw Community Card Icon: Whenever a card with the Draw Community icon is moved out of the neutral Community area, you must add 1 card to the board per icon.
• The Movement Area: A plus (+) sign indicates that you must move that Community +1 or more rows towards your side of the board. A minus (-) sign indicates you must move that Community -1 or more rows towards the opponent's side. You may break up your movement between multiple cards (for example, a card showing -3 lets you choose to move 3 Religion (brown) cards -1 each).

Faction Cards

In Master of Wills, there are always 2 opposing Factions moving Community cards toward or away from each other. Faction cards are power cards that can be played after you select a Starting card containing the Faction icon. When this occurs, you will be able to play a strategic card that will influence the game. The 4 types of Faction cards are:

• Action Cards (Faction Color) (8 min in deck, 18 max): Action cards will affect the board in a variety of ways. These cards can be played at an opportune time to maximize their effect. Action cards are designed to assist and support other types of Faction cards.
• Epic Cards (Silver) (5 min/max in deck): Epic cards are very strong and are often times key to an effective strategy. Most Epic cards have the ability to score in a Legendary range when played at the right moment.
• Legendary (Gold) (2 min/max in deck): Legendary cards are game changers. These cards will almost always be playable with powerful results. Build strategies around these cards for greater combo success.
• Neutral (Jade) (5 min/max in deck): Each Neutral card is available to all Faction decks and are powerful board control cards. These cards have a high variability and many are Lasting Effects played on rows.

Faction Card Layout

• Power Icon: These icons classify the type of powers contained in the Faction card. (The example card, Amnesia, has a Value Change and Reveal power.)
• Card Effects: These effects are placed behind Community cards, changing their value or adding another effect.
• Round Effects: These cards are typically short duration effects that can be played face up or face down, creating a deceptive play. They (as well as Lasting Effects) can be removed. There is no limit to how many can be played at one time on the board.
• Lasting Effects: These cards are played at the bottom of a row (not Allies). A row may contain only 1 Lasting Effect card at any time. They remain until removed by a player using a Remove card. This clears the Lasting Effect location. Any Community card marker placed underneath will be killed and placed in the Afterlife. This also removes the Lasting Effect and places it in the owner's Faction discard pile.
• Card Rule: The rules on the card explain what the card does. If the rule is in italics, this shows an added note to the rule. (Example, Amnesia: "Place face down in Round Effect. At any time, reveal and place Amnesia under 1 card on opponent's side and reverse card value. Move card directly Allies. If card's original value is negative, double the value." Round Effect: Player's Choice.)

Start of Play

At this time, the board should have 6 Community cards in the middle. There should be at least 2 cards in the Afterlife (from the players choosing turn order). The round marker should be placed on Round 1.

The player with the first turn reviews the board and chooses the best strategic Starting card, then moves the card to its starting position.

On Your Turn

Each turn consists of four (4) phases of play: the Move phase, the Draw phase, the Faction phase and the End of Turn phase. The only phases that must occur each turn are the Move and End of Turn phases.

1) Move Phase

Starting Card Movement. At the start of your turn, you will choose 1 card from the neutral area known as the "Starting card" and move it to its starting position. The positions include Recruits (bronze), Loyalists (silver) or Allies (gold) rows as defined on the card. The metallic header can also serve as a reference.

Starting Card Influence. After the Starting card has been moved to its starting position, it influences other Community cards on the board. The movements are shown at the top right of your Starting card.

For example, if a card showing Activist +1, Entertainer +2 and Religion -2 was selected, it would positively influence both Activist (+1) and Entertainer (+2) towards your side of the board. Each +1 represents a move from row to row. It also negatively influences Religion (-2) towards the opponent's side.

1. Move your Starting card. If the card selected has multiple movements (greater than +1 / -1), you may choose to move 1 or more cards on the board if available. Each + or - represents only 1 card movement.
2. Complete all the movements shown on the card. If no more Community cards can be moved, the remaining moves can be skipped. If the Community (color) influenced is NOT available to move, they may also be skipped.

2) Draw Phase (if applicable)

Adding New Cards to the Board. Any cards moved from the neutral area including your Starting card which contain a Draw icon, will add a new Community card to the board per Draw icon. Add these cards to the neutral area once your move phase is completed.

If a card with a Draw icon is moved back into the neutral area and in another phase is moved out again, new cards should still be drawn. Cards moving from one side of the board to the other do not draw new cards by passing through the neutral area.

If a card with a Draw icon is moved by a Faction card out of the neutral area, cards will still be drawn.

If no cards are moved out of the neutral area with a Draw icon, skip this phase. Once the Draw phase is completed, either skip to the End of Turn phase or continue to the Faction phase.

3) Faction Phase (if applicable)

Playing Your Faction Cards.

If your Starting card contains a Faction icon: Draw 1 Faction card from your deck, then choose between the available cards in your hand. Select 1 Faction card, place it on the board or off to the side if it is not required in the field of play, and follow the card instructions.

If your Starting card does NOT contain a Faction icon: Skip this phase and move to the End of Turn phase.

4) End of Turn Phase

Completing Your Turn. At the end of each turn, a new Community card is drawn to the neutral area. If there are less than 3 cards when the turn has ended, add additional cards until there are 3 cards in the neutral area.

There must be at least 1 playable card for a player to choose from at the beginning of their turn.

For example: Faction cards may reduce the opportunity for a player to select from the 3 available neutral area cards. However, if a player has no available card to select from, 1 additional card will always be added to the board.

End of Game and Winning

Once each player has completed a turn, the round ends. Move the round marker to the next round. After Round 8, the game ends (unless Round Effect cards extend the game, see below).

If both players have unrevealed Round Effect cards still in play at the end of a game, the order in which the cards are played must be decided. Each player will draw 1 Community card and the player with the highest card drawn decides whether to play first or allow the opponent to play first (kill draw cards). Players will alternate revealing their Round Effects until all cards are played. If a player has a Round Effect card that requires a trigger to occur in order to play it, that player must pass their turn. All other Faction cards in play at the end of game will remain active until the "End of Game" round is completed.

Each player (team) counts up the collective points from their Recruits, Loyalists and Allies rows. Add additional points generated by Faction cards. The side with the highest score is the winner.

Game Variants

MOW 2 vs 2 (play with a partner and team up)

Game Setup: The board and cards are setup in the same way as the standard game. Both players on a team share a standard deck (20 cards). Each player will draw 2 Faction cards to begin the game.

Starting the Game: The main difference between 1 vs 1 and 2 vs 2 is that the turn order is different. Once you have completed the draw to decide who plays first, each team must decide which partner will go first in Round 1. This player will lead off for each team and their partner will be finishing the game in Round 8. Players should review their Faction cards before making this decision.

Order of Play: Team 1 is the team who has chosen or been asked to go first. Team 2 is the team that will go second. The order in which the teams and players play, by round:

The chart in the Game Guide lists, for each round, the two turns in order (top box, then bottom box), exactly as printed:

Round	First turn	Second turn
1	Team 1 Player 1	Team 2 Player 1
2	Team 1 Player 2	Team 1 Player 1
3	Team 2 Player 2	Team 2 Player 1
4	Team 1 Player 2	Team 1 Player 1
5	Team 2 Player 2	Team 2 Player 1
6	Team 1 Player 2	Team 1 Player 1
7	Team 2 Player 2	Team 2 Player 1
8	Team 1 Player 2	Team 2 Player 2

A more detailed explanation can be found at masterofwills.com/game-variants. (Transcription note: the chart is reproduced as printed in the Game Guide.)

Mowitaire (1 player game)

Objective: The objective is to achieve more points than the opponent's side of the board after 8 turns of play. Mowitaire is an awesome way to play solo, practice your combos and most importantly is also a super catchy name! The game rules below provide the basic setup and game play but we encourage players to up the level of challenge if you find yourself winning often.

Game Setup: Build a standard Faction deck consisting of 2 Legendary, 5 Epics, 5 Neutrals, and 8 to 18 Action cards (hint: build one with the knowledge that the opponent will not be moving cards or defending their side). Shuffle the Community deck and randomly deal...

• Easy Play: 15 cards in "opponent's" Allies, 14 cards in their Loyalists and 13 cards in their Recruits.
• Medium Challenge: 17 cards in "opponent's" Allies, 16 cards in their Loyalists and 15 cards in their Recruits.
• Pretty Darn Hard: 19 cards in "opponent's" Allies, 18 cards in their Loyalists and 17 cards in their Recruits.

...then deal 6 cards into the Afterlife and 8 cards into the neutral area.

Game Play: You now have 8 turns to achieve a higher score than what the "opponent" has at the end of the game. Use movements and Faction plays to take as many points as possible from the "opponent" while adding points to your side of the board.

3 Player FFA (three person battle)

Objective: This variant plays almost identically to the standard 1 vs 1 game with 3 players.

Game Setup: Add a third Recruits, Loyalists and Allies row.

Starting the Game: Set up the board up in the standard game fashion, build a Faction deck (2 Legendaries, 5 Epics, 5 Neutrals, min of 8 Actions) and all 3 players draw to see who goes first. The player who draws the high card can choose to go first or pass to the next player in clockwise order. That player then can either go first or pass to the last player who then must go first.

Game Play: There are now 3 turns per round and the player who plays last turn will change to round marker after their play is completed. When choosing a Starting card with negative movements, you may choose to move a card towards either opponent's side. This is the main difference in the game play. You should always pay attention to the points on each opponent's side in order to prevent giving one opponent too many points.

If a Faction card has a penalty for its use then all players affected by the play will gain from said penalty, if just one opponent is affected then only that one will get the bonus. For example, if you were to play The Loyal Gentlemen you could move 1 Recruit from each player but both players would then get 1 neutral area card to their Recruits; or move 2 from only one opponent and then only that player gets 1 neutral area card. Additional rules available at masterofwills.com.

MOW-OP (Cooperative Play: team up and beat the board)

Objective: This game puts you and a partner on the same team, attempting to push points to both sides of the board to beat a pre-defined score for each round. For example, in Round 1, both players will attempt to achieve 20 points on their sides of board in order to pass the round. If you do not achieve the minimal points on BOTH sides of the board, you lose. This game variant is super fun but will require the players to keep track of scores as the game progresses.

Game Setup:

• Get a device to record your scores
• Shuffle Community deck and draw 2 cards to see who will go first, place them in Afterlife
• Deal 4 additional cards and place in the Afterlife and 8 cards into the neutral area
• Each player will build a standard Faction deck

Game Play: Each round, players must move the minimum number of points to both sides of the board. For example, if Round 1 minimum is 20 points, you will need at least 40 total points, 20 on each side in order to pass the Round.

The points needed to pass each round (accumulative score, per player side):

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Points	20	45	70	100	130	160	195	240

Additional rules available at masterofwills.com.

Quick Guide

Golden Rules

• Allies (and protected cards) cannot be affected. Allies are locked and bound to your Faction. They cannot be modified, killed or moved like cards in the other rows, even if a card says "kill any card on the board." Allies should not be considered "on the board." The same rules apply for protected cards unless the protection is removed or expires.
• Community Draw and Faction icon simple rules. To play a Faction card, you must choose a Starting card containing a Faction icon. All other cards moved with Faction icons are ignored. When any cards containing Draw icon(s) are moved out of the neutral area, you must draw 1 Community card per icon and place in neutral area. There must be a minimum of 3 cards in the neutral area at the start of any turn.
• You must be able to complete the rules on a Faction card to play it, unless it favors your opponent. If a Faction card cannot be completed, the card may not be used until the rules can be fulfilled. For example, if a card says "Draw 2 Afterlife cards and place 1 in each players Recruits," there must be at least 2 Afterlife cards available to complete this action. A card that reduces its power against the opponent may be used. For example, "Kill 2 Union cards." If you can only kill 1, the card may still be used.
• +5 (or -5) Lasting Effect card value changes. Community cards affected by these Faction cards will not change values until game's end.
• End of Game Round Effects. If both players have Round Effect cards still in play at the end of a game, the order in which the cards are played must be decided. Each player draws a Community card and the highest card drawn will decide who plays first. Kill both drawn cards. Players will then alternate turns until all cards are played. All Faction cards in play, once the 8 rounds have been completed, are still in play during this "End of Game" round. Round Effects requiring an action are only played if triggered, otherwise they are skipped.
• Infinite loops are not allowed. The Community cannot be affected by 2 Special cards that create an indefinite loop. If this occurs, kill the recently drawn Community card and pick another. Repeat this process, if necessary, until a different Community appears.

Faction Power Icons

Afterlife, Move, Bonus Play, Lasting Effect, Card Effect, Protection, Community Draw, Remove Special, Copycat, Reveal, Freeze, Round Effect, Gamble, Spy, Instant Play, Swap, Kill, Value Change.

Phases of Play

Follow this order during your turn.

1. Move phase: Choose a Starting card and move all influenced cards + and - until moves are completed.
2. Draw phase: Add new Community cards to the board based on how many draw icons were moved out of the neutral area.
3. Faction phase: If your Starting card has a Faction icon on it, draw 1 Faction card from your deck and play 1 Faction card. If not, skip this phase.
4. End of Turn phase: Draw 1 card and add to the neutral area. If less than 3 cards in neutral, add until 3.