Masters of The Universe: Fields of Eternia The Board Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Component List
• Game Setup
  • Faction Setup
  • General Setup
  • Hero Card
• Objective
• Key Concepts
  • The Map of Eternia
    • Controlling Outposts
    • Faction Bases
    • Towers
    • Water
    • Flight Paths
    • Merchants
  • Eternium
  • Success and Failure
  • Victory Cards
  • Defeated Heroes
• How to Play Your First Game
• Structure of a Round
  • Preparation Phase
  • Action Phase
• Actions
  • Move
    • Water
    • Flying
  • Outpost Movement
  • Fast Travel
  • Mobilize the Soldiers
    • Fortify an Outpost
    • Move Soldiers
  • Brave the Wilds
    • Epic Beast Encounters
    • Merchant
  • Go on a Quest
  • Rest (Night Only)
  • Free Actions
    • Trade
• Combat Basics
• Epic Combat
  • Combat Grid
  • Weapons
  • Combat Deck
    • Basic Combat Cards
    • Special Combat Cards
  • Resolving Epic Combat
    • Step 1: Choose a Weapon
    • Step 2: Activate Start-of-Combat Abilities
    • Step 3: Place Cards on Combat Grids
    • Step 4: Activate Abilities
    • Step 5: Calculate Your Total Initiative, Attack, and Defence
    • Step 6: Resolve Damage in Initiative Order
    • Step 7: Check for Defeated Heroes
    • Step 8: Active Player Chooses Whether to Flee
    • Step 9: Check for Resolution
    • Step 10: Cleanup
  • Rules for Faster Combat
  • Epic Combat Example
• Dice of Power: Alternative Epic Combat Rules
  • Dice of Power Example
• Wilds Combat
  • Step 1: Roll Wilds Dice
  • Step 2: Allocate Wilds Dice to Enemy Attributes
  • Step 3: Resolve Attacks
  • Step 4: Determine Result of Combat
  • Wilds Combat Example
• Soldier Combat
  • Soldiers vs. Enemy Hero
  • Soldiers vs. Enemy Soldiers
  • Soldiers vs. Enemy Hero and Soldiers
• Support Cards
  • Beasts and Allies
    • Taming Beasts
    • Gained Allies
  • Equipment, Spells, and Vehicles
    • Equipment
    • Spells
    • Vehicles
• Ending the Game
• Gameplay Variants
  • Solo/Cooperative Mode
    • Enemy Cards
    • Setup
    • Difficulty Level
    • Epic Combat (Solo/Cooperative)
    • Defeated Heroes (Solo/Cooperative)
    • Solo Scoring
  • Skirmish Mode
    • Setup (Skirmish)
    • Skirmish Gameplay Changes
    • New Actions in Skirmish Mode
    • Skirmish Game End and Scoring
• Glossary
• Credits

Component List

• 1 Map Board
• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Mission Book
• 2 Combat Grids
• 10 Masters of the Universe Wilds Dice
• 10 Evil Warriors Wilds Dice
• 2 Epic Dice
• Models: He-Man, She-Ra, Man-At-Arms, Ram Man, Teela, Stratos (Masters of the Universe), Skeletor, Mer-Man, Beast Man, Evil-Lyn, Tri-Klops, Trap Jaw (Evil Warriors)
• 15 Masters of the Universe Soldiers
• 15 Evil Warriors Soldiers
• 6 Masters of the Universe Hero cards
• 6 Evil Warriors Hero cards
• 20 Vehicle cards
• 38 Equipment cards
• 45 Spell cards
• 26 Victory cards
• 45 Masters of the Universe Combat cards
• 45 Evil Warriors Combat cards
• 24 Battle cards (Solo/Co-op)
• 24 Effect cards (Solo/Co-op)
• 14 Epic Beast cards
• 13 Scenario: Fractures in Time cards
• 13 Scenario: Evil Seed cards
• Boss: Evil Seed card
• 8 Encounter: Ally cards
• 12 Encounter: Beast cards
• 12 Encounter: Event cards
• 12 Damage 1/2 tokens
• 12 Damage 3/5 tokens
• 40 Eternium tokens
• 30 Victory Point tokens
• 3 Weapon tokens (double-sided)
• 12 Vines tokens
• 1 Round token
• 14 Quest tokens
• 3 Masters of the Universe activation tokens
• 3 Evil Warriors activation tokens

Game Setup

Place the map board in the center of the play area, and perform the following steps in the 'Faction Setup' and 'General Setup.'

Faction Setup

1. Divide all players into 2 teams, with each team choosing a faction. This box includes two factions: the Masters of the Universe and the Evil Warriors. Additional factions will be available in future expansions. Each team chooses 3 heroes from their faction.

2. Each hero card has that hero's faction symbol directly below their name.

   Note: A player may need to control more than one hero if there are less than 3 players for that team. The players choose how to assign control of the 3 heroes.

   Mounted Miniatures: Mounted heroes are limited edition models depicting specific heroes on attached mounts. Some of these heroes begin the game with a specific tamed beast. At the beginning of the game, find the card matching the named beast and give it to that hero. Other mounted heroes might have all of their bonuses shown on their included card.

   Each team may only have one mounted hero. If your team does not choose a mounted hero, but the enemy does, start the game with 4 extra Eternium in your pool.

3. Each player takes their selected hero's card, model, and an activation token. Place each hero model into its faction's starting location (base):

   • Masters of the Universe: Castle Grayskull
   • Evil Warriors: Any unused base unless specified by the scenario (In standard game's scenarios, we recommend using Temple of Serpos)

4. Gather each faction's unique soldiers and dice, and place them within reach of their respective teams' players.

   Heroes and soldiers on your team are known as friendly models.

5. Each team takes the combat deck that shows their faction symbol, which includes the following cards:

   • 7 '+1' cards
   • 6 '+2' cards
   • 3 '+3' cards
   • 2 surge cards
   • 1 time card
   • 1 tool card
   • 1 flux card

6. Each team gains 3 Eternium per hero, plus an additional 1 Eternium. Add this to the team's Eternium pool. Place the rest of the Eternium near the board.

7. Deal each team 1 victory card per hero in their team. Victory cards are kept secret from the other teams and represent goals you can accomplish to earn victory points. Shuffle the other victory cards and place them to the side of the board.

General Setup

8. Choose a scenario from the mission book, and follow any included setup instructions. Locate all scenario cards matching the chosen scenario. Unless the scenario instructions state otherwise, shuffle these cards together to form the scenario deck, and place this on one side of the board.

9. Place all tokens within easy reach near the map board and set the round token to the first day on the round tracker.

10. Shuffle together all encounter cards to create the wilds deck and place it to the side of the map board.

    Each of the game's decks is considered to have a corresponding discard pile, for used and discarded cards of their type. If any deck runs out of cards, reshuffle that deck's discard pile to form a new deck.

11. Create and shuffle the equipment, spell, and vehicle decks. Place each off to the side of the map board, leaving space near each deck for a 4-card market.

12. Determine the starting team. The team with the player who most recently enjoyed any Masters of the Universe media, will go first. Or, if you prefer, you may determine the starting team randomly.

Hero Card

Each hero card shows: Name, Faction, Weapons, Surge abilities, and Passive ability, along with the hero's Hit points, Mind attribute, Body attribute, Initiative attribute, and Movement.

Objective

In Fields of Eternia, players take on the roles of legendary characters from the Masters of the Universe Classics series and vie for dominance of Eternia.

Each team's goal is to have the most victory points (VP) by the end of the final round.

Whenever a player gains VP, they collect the appropriate number of VP tokens and place them in their team's VP pool.

Key Concepts

The Map of Eternia

The map board represents Eternia and is divided into two types of areas: outposts and the wilds. Outposts are encircled by the castle wall borders. The wilds make up the rest and are divided into single areas by borders and paths.

Paths are the dotted borders connecting two outposts. An area is considered adjacent to another area if they both share a common border or path. An area is not adjacent to itself.

Note: Areas with a matching symbol are considered adjacent to the areas on the opposite side of the map with the matching symbol.

Controlling Outposts

Your team controls an outpost if it has one or more friendly models (heroes or soldiers) there. An outpost can only hold 3 soldiers in total, but only 1 is needed to maintain control. An outpost can hold any number of friendly heroes.

Faction Bases

Each team's starting outpost is called its base and is marked by a base icon. It is always controlled by its team and can only be targeted by players of that team. Enemy players may not move their heroes and soldiers into your base, or otherwise target it in any way.

No soldiers (of any team) may be placed in any base (unless a scenario, ability, or card specifies otherwise).

Towers

There are three special outpost towers (Grayskull Tower, Central Tower, and Viper Tower) that allow players to the 'fast travel' action between each tower. These are marked by a tower icon.

Water

The water surrounding the land represents the seas of Eternia. The seas are neither wilds nor an outpost, and models may not be placed in them (unless an ability or card specifies otherwise). Heroes with a flying mount/vehicle or a special ability/equipment may cross the sea at flight paths.

Flight Paths

Heroes that can fly, due to any effect, may cross water using these paths.

Merchants

Certain outposts house one of three types of merchants: forges, shops, and mage guilds. When these areas are controlled by a team, they grant all heroes of that team the ability to purchase cards from its merchant as a player's final action.

Eternium

Eternium is the main resource the heroes will spend to purchase cards and use powerful abilities and spells.

At certain points throughout the game, most commonly during the preparation phase, a rule might instruct a player to place Eternium into their team's Eternium pool. A team's Eternium pool should be placed within easy reach of all the team's players. Players on the same team will need to communicate and share their Eternium in order to succeed.

Success and Failure

Some actions, cards, and other effects of the game will ask a player to roll a die to determine an outcome. When making these checks, roll a wilds die (unless the card states otherwise), and apply the result based on the following:

• Success or double success: success
• Blank or reroll: failure

Victory Cards

Victory cards have two objectives: primary and secondary. When a team has achieved the primary objective of one of their victory cards, reveal the card and gain the printed amount of VP. Keep the revealed victory card face up until the secondary objective is achieved, and its VP gained. If needed, you may keep track of the task's progress by placing damage tokens on it from the supply.

A victory card shows: Name, Objectives, and Reward (VP).

A team can only play a total number of victory cards equal to their number of heroes. After reaching the limit, the team discards any remaining victory cards remaining in their hands. During their turn, a team may pay 1 Eternium to discard any number of victory cards from their hand and draw the same amount discarded. Cards already in play cannot be discarded.

The main source of VP should be victory cards and the 'Go on a Quest' action. VP for defeating heroes are difficult to earn. However, it is worth taking the chance when an enemy hero has already received a few damage tokens or does not have any equipment. Remember: Spells can be used by any player of the opposing team.

Defeated Heroes

If a player's hero's health drops to 0, they are defeated. When a hero is defeated, perform the following steps:

• Move the hero model to their team's base.
• Discard all damage tokens on their hero card.
• The hero must pay a value of 5 Eternium, in any combination of Eternium from their team's pool, or by discarding cards they own of equivalent value based on Eternium cost.

If a hero is defeated during their turn, their turn ends immediately.

How to Play Your First Game

For your first game, it is recommended that you adhere to the following rules:

1. Setup: Place the round token on the 1 Event Skull (resolve it immediately) and deploy 1 random friendly hero and 1 soldier on each merchant area on your side of the map board:

   The faction starting in the Castle Grayskull base:

   • Foe Castle
   • Village of Gaz
   • Eldor's Village

   The faction starting in the Temple of Serpos base:

   • City of Targa
   • Corridors of Lithos
   • Oracle's Temple

   If you have at least one expansion, you can play a 3-faction game. Use the following location for the third faction only.

   The faction starting in the Temple of Hordak base:

   • Village of Orkas
   • Horde Factory Works
   • Slime Pit

2. Protection Time: You cannot attack enemy heroes before Skull Event 2 has occurred.

3. No Reward for Defeating a Hero: When you defeat an enemy hero, you do not receive 1 VP.

4. After combat with an enemy hero: If the hero is defeated, but still has HP, they retreat to the nearest outpost controlled by that hero's faction (it must contain at least 1 friendly soldier or a hero); if the team controls no outpost, the hero returns to their faction's base.

If you are looking for fast gameplay, consider using 'Rules for Faster Combat' (p. 21).

Structure of a Round

Fields of Eternia takes place over a series of rounds that alternate between day and night, marked by the round tracker.

Each round is made up of two phases: preparation and action.

Preparation Phase

At the start of the preparation phase, advance the round tracker (skip this step in the first round). Depending on whether it is a day or night round, players gain a bonus as follows:

• Day — Each team immediately gains the Eternium amount listed on each outpost they control, both by soldiers or their heroes.
• Night — Each hero heals 1 HP at the end of their turn. Heroes cannot have more HP than listed on their hero card.

A round marked by a skull symbol on the round tracker may cause a scenario-specific event to occur. Follow the instructions listed on the scenario you have chosen.

Action Phase

Start the action phase by having the starting team activate one hero of their choice. Each hero may only activate once per round. Place an activation token on the hero afterwards to remind you of which heroes have already activated this round.

The next team in clockwise order will then activate a single hero they control. Play continues in this way until all heroes have been activated, then the round ends.

It is recommended that you plan your actions during another player's turn.

Actions

When you activate a hero you may perform up to two standard actions from those listed below, in any order. Each action can only be taken once per turn.

• Move
• Outpost Movement
• Fast Travel (between towers)
• Mobilize the Soldiers
• Brave the Wilds
• Go on a Quest
• Rest (night only)

You may also perform the following free actions, once each, during your activation:

• Trade (with other heroes)
• Use a Merchant

The round ends once all heroes have been activated during the action phase.

Move

Each hero has a movement value listed on their hero card, corresponding to an equal amount of movement points. Movement between most adjacent areas of Eternia costs 1 movement point.

You do not need to spend all of your movement points when taking this action. However, you cannot interrupt your 'Move' action to do another action.

If you enter into an area occupied by enemy models, your movement immediately ends, and any remaining movement points are lost. Then, you enter into combat with the enemy. See 'Combat Basics' (p. 17).

Water

Heroes cannot move through water areas unless they have a flying ability (see below).

Unless noted by a special rule or ability, heroes may not end their move action in a water area. If a hero is ever placed in a water area, place them on the nearest flight path instead. The player may then choose which area to move to using the flight path.

Flying

Epic beasts with the flying ability, as well as vehicles with the flying subtype, grant their hero the ability to fly. Some other effects may also grant the ability temporarily. When flying, a hero may spend 2 movement points to move over water along a flight path marked on the map.

When flying, a hero may also move through areas containing enemy models without triggering combat. However, ending their movement in the area will still trigger combat.

Outpost Movement

If you control two outposts that are connected by a path, you can spend 1 movement point to move using that path.

Fast Travel

If your hero is in one of the three tower areas (Grayskull, Central, or Viper), you may spend an action to move your hero to one of the other two towers.

Mobilize the Soldiers

Choose one of the following options, both of which count as your 'Mobilize the Soldiers' action for your turn.

Fortify an Outpost

If your hero is at an outpost that does not contain any enemy models, you may fill it with up to 3 soldiers from your team's soldier supply.

Note: An outpost can only have 3 of your team's soldiers in it at any time. Should there ever be more, remove the extra soldiers.

Move Soldiers

To choose this option, your hero must be in — or adjacent to — the same outpost as the soldiers you wish to move.

You may move any number of your soldiers along a path to a neighbouring outpost. If you move your soldiers into an area with enemy models, you enter soldier combat. See 'Soldier Combat' (p. 28).

Brave the Wilds

If your hero is in a wilds area, you may take the 'Brave the Wilds' action: draw the top card of the encounter deck and resolve it.

Alternatively, you may pay 1 Eternium and draw 2 cards from the wilds deck instead, choosing one to resolve and placing the other at the bottom of the deck.

There are three types of wilds cards in the encounter deck:

Events are resolved immediately by reading the card and performing its effect.

Beasts trigger wilds combat. See 'Wilds Combat' (p. 26). Beasts may be tamed if you successfully defeat them in combat. See 'Support Cards - Taming Beasts' (p. 29).

When an ally card is drawn, follow the instructions below depending on the ally card's faction:

• If the ally card does not share your team's faction symbol, you must fight the ally in wilds combat. See 'Wilds Combat' (p. 26).
• If the ally card does share your team's faction symbol, you may gain the ally by paying its Eternium cost (on the top left of the card), or shuffle it back into the deck to gain 1 Eternium. See 'Gained Allies' (p. 29).

When you gain or defeat an ally, take its reward.

An event card shows: Name, Story Text, and Effect. An ally or beast card shows: Faction allegiance, Cost in Eternium, Name, Combat ability, Bonus, and Reward, along with the card's Attack, Defence, and Hit Points.

Epic Beast Encounters

Epic beast encounters are resolved through epic combat. See 'Resolving Epic Combat' (p. 18-23).

Before you start fighting epic beasts, consider replacing weaker combat cards with stronger combat cards first. By performing the 'Brave the Wilds' action, you have a chance of gaining an Ally card that will strengthen your combat deck. See 'Brave the Wilds' (p. 13).

An epic beast card shows: Name, Passive ability, Surge ability, Taming cost, Taming bonus, and Reward, along with the card's Hit Points, Initiative, Attack, and Defence.

Merchant

The first time a hero captures an outpost of one of the three types of merchants, reveal 4 cards from that merchant's deck to form the merchant's market. For the remainder of the game, the merchant's market should have 4 cards revealed and available for purchase. When a hero captures an outpost with a merchant symbol, the hero's team now controls that outpost.

If your team controls an outpost with a merchant symbol, you may perform a 'Use the Merchant' action to purchase goods from that merchant. Your hero can perform this action from anywhere on the map.

There are three types of merchants: shops, which sell equipment; mage guilds, which sell spells; and forges, which sell vehicles.

As part of the action, choose the merchant you control that you wish to purchase from.

When purchasing from a merchant, you may buy any number of the 4 available cards. Before making any purchases, you may spend 1 Eternium to discard all cards from the chosen merchant market to reveal 4 new cards to purchase from. You can only refresh the merchant's market once per 'free' action.

If you control multiple outposts with the same merchant symbol, the cost of buying cards from those merchant markets is decreased by 1 (to a minimum of 1) for each additional symbol you control.

Example: Controlling two shops lowers the price of equipment by 1. Controlling three shops would lower the price by 2.

Once you have finished purchasing cards from a merchant, refill that merchant's market to 4 cards.

For further details on the cards you can purchase, see 'Equipment, Spells, and Vehicles' (p. 29).

Note: The 'Use the Merchant' action is only performed at the end of the turn. Subsequent players do not have to wait for the current player to finish performing the 'Use the Merchant' action before they start taking their action.

A merchant card shows: Cost, Name, Type, Effects, and Bonus.

Go on a Quest

If there is a quest token in your hero's area, you may remove it to draw and resolve the top card of the scenario deck.

There are two types of scenario cards: Quests will contain story text, and a task for the hero to resolve. The task may be different depending on the faction of the hero that drew the card. If you successfully fulfil the task, you gain the reward. If you fail to resolve it, you do not gain the reward.

After replacing a few '+1' cards for '+2' cards from your combat deck and purchased some equipment and spells, you can safely undertake 'Go on a Quest' actions.

A quest card shows: Name, Tasks, and Reward (VP).

Rest (Night Only)

If it is night, you may spend 2 standard actions to heal 4 HP from your hero. This ends your turn, but you may still use 'Free' actions as normal.

Free Actions

These actions do not count towards a hero's action limit. A hero may perform each 'free' action once per turn, if they meet the requirements. The 'Merchant' action must be performed as a hero's last action. In order to remove empty time, have the next player start their action while you are shopping.

Trade

If your hero is in the same area as another hero from your team, you may freely trade the following between them: ally, vehicle, equipment, spell, and tamed beast cards.

Combat Basics

Combat in Fields of Eternia is split into three different categories:

• Epic combat: heroes fighting heroes, epic beasts, or bosses.
• Wilds combat (p. 26): heroes fighting encounter cards (beasts or allies).
• Soldier combat (p. 28): soldiers fighting heroes or enemy soldiers.

Whenever a model enters an area occupied by an enemy's model(s), or encounters an enemy in the wilds, combat occurs. Interrupt your normal turn sequence and resolve the appropriate combat until only one team remains in the area.

When your hero enters a location with one or more heroes and soldiers of an opposing team, resolve epic combat first. The defender uses only one hero, if there are more in the given location, they need to choose which one. Then — if necessary — resolve another epic combat(s) and soldier combat in the end.

Before attacking an enemy hero, you should be well prepared; without proper equipment and a strong combat deck, there is a high risk of defeat!

Epic Combat

If you want epic combat to go quicker, see 'Rules for Faster Combat' (p. 21).

If you want to use wilds dice (D6) for epic combat and make it more unpredictable, see 'Dice of Power: Alternative Epic Combat Rules' (p. 24).

When your hero enters an area containing an opposing hero, or encounters an epic beast, or boss character from a scenario card, or other game effect, it results in epic combat!

In epic combat, players engage in a card-placement minigame using their team's combat grid and combat deck, which will determine the result of the combat.

Combat Grid

Each participating hero has their own combat grid where they will play cards. The combat grid shows three distinct zones, which correspond to your hero's attack, defence, and initiative. Each zone can only hold 4 cards.

In epic combat, you will draw cards from your team's combat deck, and play each card in one of the zones of your combat grid, with the goal of increasing your attribute values and triggering abilities in order to defeat your enemy and protect your own.

Weapons

At the beginning of epic combat, each participating hero will choose a weapon from the two listed on their hero card. Each weapon will belong to one of three types: melee, missile, and magic. There are many cards or abilities that affect a particular weapon type, so choose wisely.

Combat Deck

Each team starts the game with a combat deck containing 21 cards. During combat you will draw cards from the combat deck and place these cards onto the combat grid. You will do this four times each.

Whenever you would gain new combat cards, such as the rewards for an ally or beast encounter, take the card from the supply and add it to your team's combat deck.

The combat deck must always contain 21 cards; so whenever you add one, remove another of your choice and discard the card from the game.

The following list describes the effect of each card when played. Refer back to it during your combat:

Basic Combat Cards

These cards show a modifier (+1, +2, or +3) that is added to the attribute where it is played.

Example: A '+2' modifier in a defence zone increases the hero's defence by 2.

There are 7 '+1' cards in each combat deck; their replacement should be a priority for each team. The better the cards in your combat deck, the stronger your team will become.

Special Combat Cards

• Flux: counts as '+1' for the zone's attribute. Play this card face up in any zone. After playing a flux card, immediately draw and play one card. The flux card does not count towards the four card zone limit.
• Surge: counts as '+1' for the zone's attribute. When triggered, this card activates your hero's surge ability based on your hero's chosen weapon.
• Time: play this card face up next to the combat grid, then draw and play another card. When you choose to resolve the time card's effect later in combat, discard it to swap the position of two of your cards.
• Tool: when you draw a tool card, reveal and discard it. Then, immediately draw 2 more cards, choosing one card to play and one card to discard.

Resolving Epic Combat

To resolve epic combat, follow the steps below. If a player is fighting another hero, follow the Hero section of the steps. If a player is fighting an epic beast or boss card, follow the Beast/Boss section of the steps.

Step 1: Choose a Weapon

Hero: During this step, each player decides which of their two weapons they will use by placing the weapon token showing the matching symbol on their hero card. Starting with the active player, each player chooses and announces their weapon.

Beast/Boss: The active player chooses their weapon.

Step 2: Activate Start-of-Combat Abilities

Hero: Starting with the active player, heroes participating in the combat may activate any abilities triggered by the start of epic combat.

Beast/Boss: Activate any abilities triggered by the start of epic combat, starting with the active player, then the enemy.

Step 3: Place Cards on Combat Grids

Hero: Starting with the active player, each player takes turns drawing one combat card and playing it on their combat grid, until both players have placed 4 cards (not counting flux cards).

Basic combat cards are played face down. Special combat cards are played face up, as they may trigger immediately. Certain surge powers (marked with the keyword "immediate") will trigger when a surge card is played, while other cards trigger in step 4.

A player may not play a card in the same zone as the previous card they placed. This also applies to flux cards.

If a player runs out of cards to play, they do not reshuffle their discard pile and they no longer participate in this step of combat.

After drawing a card, a player may focus, by discarding the drawn card to draw another card. A player may focus a number of times equal to their hero's mind attribute. Player must keep the cards discarded when focusing in a temporary discard pile to track the number of times they have focused.

Beast/Boss: Before a player plays any combat cards, they must roll an epic die and apply the benefit to their enemy. The enemy does not use the combat grid.

The epic die shows: +1/+2 Attack, +1/+2 Defence, +1/+2 Initiative, Surge. If the player rolls a surge result, their enemy's surge ability will trigger in the next step of combat.

The remainder of this step follows the Hero rules above. However, you do not need to play your cards face down and your enemy will not play cards at all.

Step 4: Activate Abilities

Hero: Begin this step by flipping over all face down cards on each team's combat grid.

In this step, the teams — starting with the active team — will alternate performing one of the following actions. This step ends only after both teams have passed.

• Activate a face-up time card or a surge card: some surge powers are immediate and were triggered in Step 3. You cannot activate them again here.
• Play a combat spell: a player may play a spell owned by any teammate, even if that teammate is not in combat.
• Play a consumable equipment: only consumable items owned by the heroes directly involved in the combat can be used here.
• Remove friendly soldiers: if there are friendly soldiers in the same area as a player's hero during the epic combat, they may remove any number of soldiers to increase their hero's attribute totals. Each soldier removed increases one of the player's hero's attribute totals by 1. Players must place the removed soldiers on their combat grid as a reminder. Players can only choose this option once per combat.
• Pass: removes you from this step.

If you own an expansion and are playing a 3-team game, the teams not participating in the fight are also allowed to play spells in any type of epic combat. They get their chance after the defending player, then the active player continues.

Beast/Boss: Same as Hero. Other teams may also play spell cards during the combat, in rotation with the active player. When the teams have passed, apply any enemy passive combat abilities or a surge ability, if triggered.

Step 5: Calculate Your Total Initiative, Attack, and Defence

Hero: Calculate the total initiative, attack, and defence for each hero by adding together any bonuses found within each zone of the team's combat grid. A hero's initiative must also add their starting value to their bonuses. Any cards that were flipped, due to game effects, do not provide a bonus, but will still count towards the 4-card limit. Swapped cards give bonuses based on their final position.

The hero with the highest initiative value will attack first in the next step of combat. The hero that loses the initiative is surprised by the attack and loses 1 HP, automatically. If there is a tie for initiative, the active player attacks first and neither hero loses 1 HP.

Beast/Boss: Same as Hero. The enemy's totals are adjusted based on the epic die result.

Step 6: Resolve Damage in Initiative Order

Hero: The player that won the initiative becomes the attacker, and makes the first attack. Compare the attacker's attack total with the defender's defence total. If the attack is greater, the defender will lose HP equal to the difference. Damage tokens are placed on the hero card equal to the HP lost. Players must keep track of how much damage their hero takes during each round of combat. If defence is greater or equal to the attack, nothing happens. If the defender is reduced to 0 HP, proceed to step 7.

Otherwise, repeat this step once more with the defender becoming the attacker. Each hero will only attack once before moving to the next step.

Beast/Boss: Same as Hero.

Step 7: Check for Defeated Heroes

Hero: When either hero has been reduced to 0 HP, that hero is defeated, combat ends and the surviving hero gains 1 VP for their team. If both heroes would ever be simultaneously defeated as a result of an ability or other effect, combat ends with no winner. See 'Defeated Heroes' (p. 9).

Beast/Boss: If the hero is defeated, the combat ends and the beast card is reshuffled into the scenario deck with no further effect. If the beast has been reduced to 0 HP, the hero gains 1 VP for their team and any rewards listed on the beast card. See 'Taming Beasts' (p. 29).

Step 8: Active Player Chooses Whether to Flee

Hero: If no hero has been defeated, and this is the first round of combat, the active player may choose to flee. The defender cannot flee. To flee, the active player must spend 2 Eternium and move their hero to an adjacent area that does not contain enemy models. The combat ends, do not proceed to the next step. The enemy is considered the winner.

If there are no adjacent locations that do not contain enemy models, the active player cannot flee.

Beast/Boss: Same as Hero.

Step 9: Check for Resolution

Hero: If this is the first round of combat, and the active player didn't flee, discard all cards played this round and start a second round of combat from Step 2.

If the second round does not result in a hero being defeated, combat ends. The hero that did the most total damage across both rounds is the winner. The defender wins in a tie break situation. The winner moves the opposing hero to an adjacent area.

Beast: If this is the first round of combat, and the active player didn't flee, discard all combat cards played this round and start a second round of combat from Step 2.

If the second round does not result in either the hero or beast being reduced to 0 HP, combat ends.

If combat ends without the beast being defeated, it flees the fight. Reshuffle the beast card back into the deck. The active hero does not gain the rewards and cannot tame the beast. If the beast is defeated, gain its reward. See 'Combat Deck' (p. 18).

Boss: If you do not defeat the boss:

• The boss card remains in play and damage dealt to it remains on the boss card.
• Your hero will retreat to an adjacent area when the combat is resolved.
• All teams lose the game if a boss is in play at the end of the game (unless the scenario states otherwise).

Step 10: Cleanup

At the end of epic combat, all players reshuffle all their combat cards into their decks.

Rules for Faster Combat

• Faster Combat: Perform only 1 round of epic combat between heroes. The hero who has the least amount of remaining HP at the end of combat is forced to move to the nearest outpost controlled by their faction (if the faction controls no outposts, then the hero moves back to their faction base).

• Initiative Matters: By default, if your hero has more initiative, they deal 1 damage to their opponent. In addition to this rule, if the hero has twice as much initiative as their opponent, they deal 1 additional damage.

• Stronger Together: If there are 2 or 3 friendly heroes in the same area and they are attacked, only one of these heroes will participate in the epic combat. (The defending player decides which defending hero participates in the epic combat.) During epic combat, a hero receives 1 additional combat card for each friendly hero in the same area, e.g. — A hero with 1 friendly hero in the same area has a card limit of 5, and a hero with 2 friendly heroes has a card limit of 6. If the hero who participated in the epic combat loses, they, along with any friendly heroes, must move to the nearest outpost controlled by their faction. If the hero who participated in the epic combat loses all of their HP, they must return to their faction base. Friendly heroes must still move to the nearest outpost controlled by their faction. If the heroes do not control any outposts, all friendly heroes must return to their faction base.

  Remember: Friendly heroes can still engage in combat using spells.

Epic Combat Example

Teela enters the Mountains of Perpetua, which is currently occupied by the Evil-Lyn and 1 Evil Warriors soldier. While both Teela and Evil-Lyn possess abilities that they could use to avoid the confrontation, neither chooses to do so, leading to an epic combat.

Step 1

Teela and Evil-Lyn must both choose a weapon. Teela decides to use her melee weapon — Teela's Sword — by placing a Weapon token, melee side up, on her hero card. Evil-Lyn chooses to use her Staff, placing a Weapon token with the magic side up.

Step 2

Neither hero has any abilities that are triggered by the start of epic combat, so this step is skipped.

Step 3

Teela is the active hero, so she takes the first turn. She draws a combat card and gets a basic '+1' modifier. Teela was hoping for something better, so she decides to focus. Her mind attribute is 2, so she can do this two times in total in this combat. When she focuses, she discards her current card and draws another. This time she gets a basic '+2' modifier and decides to play it (face down) in her initiative zone.

Evil-Lyn takes her turn, drawing a basic '+3' modifier and playing it (face down) in her attack zone. Next, Teela draws a tool card, which she must discard immediately to draw 2 more cards. She gets two basic modifier cards, a '+1' and a '+3.' She plays the '+3' to her attack zone and discards the '+1.'

Evil-Lyn draws a time card. She plays the card face up near the bottom of her combat grid. Then, she draws another card: a surge card. She plays it to her defence zone, also face up.

Next, Teela plays a '+2' modifier face down to her defence zone, then Evil-Lyn plays a '+2' modifier face down to her initiative zone.

Teela uses her last focus on a basic '+1' modifier, discarding it and drawing a flux card. She plays it to her attack zone and then immediately draws another card: a basic '+1' modifier that she plays in her defence zone (flux cards do not count toward the 4-card limit). Evil-Lyn plays her final card, a basic '+2' modifier, to her defence zone.

Step 4

Both players flip over all face-down combat cards.

Starting with Teela's team (the Masters of the Universe), each team has a chance to use abilities and spells to assist in the combat. Teela, though, was a bit overconfident going into the battle and has nothing to add. She passes.

Evil-Lyn, as the defender, has a slight advantage. For her first action she uses her time card to swap the '+2' modifier in her initiative zone with the surge card in the defence zone. Next, Evil-Lyn sacrifices one soldier in her outpost to increase her attack zone by 1.

Since Teela passed, it's the Evil Warriors' turn again. Evil-Lyn's uses her surge card, causing her to draw another card, a basic '+3' modifier, which she plays to her attack zone.

Lastly, Evil-Lyn's teammate Skeletor decides to help and plays a 'Fireball' spell, causing Teela to lose 2 HP. Teela places 2 damage tokens on her hero card, leaving her with 4 HP.

Finally, the Evil Warriors pass, ending this step.

Step 5

Both heroes calculate their combat values by adding up their bonuses from each zone. They must also add their hero card's base initiative value to their initiative zone total. The total values are as follows:

• Teela: Attack 4 ('+3' + '+1' from flux), Defence 3 ('+2' + '+1'), Initiative 5 (3 base + '+2')
• Evil-Lyn: Attack 7 ('+3' + '+3' + 1 from soldier), Defence 4 ('+2' + '+2'), Initiative 3 (2 base + '+1' from surge)

Teela wins the initiative, causing Evil-Lyn to lose 1 HP, leaving her with 5 HP.

Step 6

Teela won the initiative so she attacks first. However, her 4 attack ties Evil-Lyn's 4 defence, so she is completely blocked!

After Teela's attack, Evil-Lyn gets her attack. Her 7 attack minus Teela's 3 defence does 4 damage to Teela, defeating her.

Step 7

Because Evil-Lyn defeated Teela, the Evil Warriors gain 1 VP. Teela's model is moved to her team's base (Castle Grayskull) and all damage tokens are removed from her hero card. Teela must then spend at least 5 Eternium among tokens and card values. She decides to discard her Magic Trap card (2 Eternium) and discard 3 Eternium from her team's pool.

Steps 8, 9, and 10

Had Teela survived, she probably would have spent 2 Eternium to flee, as she was clearly outmatched. But if she decided not to, another round of epic combat would have commenced.

Since the combat is over, all players reshuffle all their combat cards to their decks.

Dice of Power: Alternative Epic Combat Rules

'Dice of Power' is an alternative way to resolve epic combat using wilds dice. Follow the standard rules for epic combat, but with the following alterations:

Step 1: Choose a Weapon

Hero: Play the same as per the standard rules (p. 18). Beast/Boss: Play the same as per the standard rules (p. 18).

Step 2: Activate Start-of-Combat Abilities

Hero: Play the same as per the standard rules (p. 19). Beast/Boss: Play the same as per the standard rules (p. 19).

Step 3: Place Cards on Combat Grids

Hero: Players play as per the standard rules (p. 19), but players can only play a maximum of 2 combat cards per combat zone. Cards with the term 'immediate' are played the same as the standard rules. Players can also 'focus' to exchange any number of combat cards up to the value of their hero's mind value. Once both players have placed all of their combat cards, move to step 4.

Beast/Boss: Play as per the standard rules (p. 19).

Note: If a player's total number of wilds dice exceeds 10, any die above this value counts as 1 additional success that the player may freely assign to any of their 3 combat zones at the beginning of step 4 (p. 19).

Step 4: Activate Abilities

Hero: Both players reveal all face-down combat cards simultaneously. Players can then activate any of the abilities listed in the standard rules (p. 19). This includes any 'time' cards a player may have placed. Once both players have passed, players can move on to step 5.

Beast/Boss: Play as per the standard rules (p. 19).

Note: Any 'time' cards must be activated before players calculate their total combat values.

When participating in epic combat with 'Dice of Power', players should pay special attention to their hero's equipment (which is a balancing element). Dice rolls introduce a lot of randomness to combat, both with enemy heroes and with epic beasts.

Step 5: Calculate Your Total Initiative, Attack, and Defence

Hero: First, both players calculate the combat value of their 'initiative' combat zone. The combat value states the number of wilds dice each player rolls to resolve which hero wins the initiative. Players simultaneously roll all of their wilds dice equal to the combat value of their 'initiative' combat zone and compare the results. The player with the highest result wins the initiative and becomes the attacker. The player with the lower result loses 1 HP and becomes the defender.

The attacking hero calculates the combat value of their 'attack' combat zone to know the number of wilds dice they will roll, and the defending hero calculates the combat value of their 'defence' combat zone to know the number of wilds dice they will roll. Swapped cards give bonuses based on their final position. Players simultaneously roll their wilds dice and compare the results.

If any die shows a reroll icon, reroll that die, plus one other die if the player chooses to do so. If the player gets more than one result, all rerolls must be done simultaneously. Continue rolling the wilds dice until either no dice show a reroll icon or the player chooses to stop.

Beast/Boss: The enemy's total values are adjusted based on the result of the epic die (p. 20).

Step 6: Resolve Damage in Initiative Order

Hero: Both players compare the results of their wilds dice: the attacking hero's attack total against the defending hero's defence total. If the defence total equals or exceeds the attack total, the defending hero takes no damage. If the attack total is greater than the defence total, the defending hero suffers damage equal to the difference between the two totals. If the defending hero is reduced to 0 HP, proceed to step 7. If the defending hero still has HP remaining, repeat step 5: calculating 'attack' and 'defence' combat values with the defending hero becoming the attacking hero. Then move to step 6: resolving damage. Each hero only attacks once before moving to step 7.

Beast/Boss: Reference the attack number on the card of the Beast/Boss against the defending hero's defence total to see if the attack hits (p. 20).

Summary: Players can only play a maximum of 2 combat cards per combat zone. The amount of wilds dice per zone is based on the combat cards' total value. Reroll all results of rerolls (and one other die if you wish) before calculating the outcome.

Step 7: Check for Defeated Heroes

Hero: Play the same as per the standard rules (p. 20). Beast/Boss: Play the same as per the standard rules (p. 20).

Step 8: Active Player Chooses Whether to Flee

Hero: Play the same as per the standard rules (p. 20). Beast/Boss: Play the same as per the standard rules (p. 20).

Step 9: Check for Resolution

Hero: Play the same as per the standard rules (p. 20). Beast/Boss: Play the same as per the standard rules (p. 21).

Step 10: Cleanup

Hero: Play the same as per the standard rules (p. 21).

Dice of Power Example

In this example Beast Man gets: 7 Attack, 1 Defence, 3 Initiative (1 from die rolling '+2' from his base stats).

Wilds Combat

Wilds combat occurs when beasts, or allies without allegiance to your faction, are encountered in the encounter deck. It is resolved in a single round, using the wilds dice, as follows:

Step 1: Roll Wilds Dice

First, check and apply the beast's combat ability. Then, roll a number of wilds dice equal to your hero's body attribute. The possible dice results include blank, success, double success, and reroll icons.

The reroll icon allows you to reroll that die, plus one other die if you choose to do so. If you get more than one reroll, all rerolls should happen simultaneously. Continue rolling until no dice show reroll or you choose to stop.

Step 2: Allocate Wilds Dice to Enemy Attributes

Allocate each die to one of the following attributes, with each success reducing each attribute by 1:

• Enemy defence: this must be reduced to 0 before allocating dice to enemy HP.
• Enemy HP: reducing this to 0 will defeat the enemy.
• Enemy attack: each success reduces the damage dealt to your hero by 1.

Double successes cannot be split! You allocate dice, not successes, to each attribute.

Step 3: Resolve Attacks

Resolve both attacks simultaneously.

• For each success icon allocated to the enemy's HP, deal that much damage by placing damage tokens equal to the damage caused.
• You lose HP equal to the enemy's attack attribute. Reduce this damage by 1 for each success allocated to the enemy's attack.

Step 4: Determine Result of Combat

If the enemy's HP was reduced to 0 by your attack, you defeat the enemy and gain their reward card, even if you were reduced to 0 HP and defeated.

When fighting a beast that can be tamed, if your hero was able to defeat it without also being defeated, you may tame the beast by paying its Eternium cost. Place its card next to your hero card and gain its benefit. See 'Taming Beasts' (p. 29).

If you did not reduce the enemy's HP to 0, shuffle it back into the wilds deck.

Wilds Combat Example

Example: She-Ra engages in wilds combat with a Dylinx.

Before rolling dice, Dylinx has a passive ability that must be triggered. The die roll from the ability was a blank, so Dylinx does not get '+1'.

She-Ra's body attribute is 7: she rolls 7 dice, resulting in 2 blanks, a reroll, 3 successes, and a double success.

For her reroll, she chooses to reroll one of the 2 blanks. Rerolling, she gets two more double successes, making her final dice result: 1 blank, 3 successes, and 3 double successes.

The Dylinx has 3 HP, 3 attack, and 2 defence. She-Ra first allocates a double success to the Dylinx's defence, reducing it to 0 and permitting her to allocate successes to its HP. She then allocates a success and double success to the Dylinx's attack, and a double success and 2 successes to the Dylinx's HP.

The Dylinx's HP and attack are both reduced to 0 as well, meaning She-Ra defeats the Dylinx, and takes no damage from its attack.

Soldier Combat

Whenever your soldiers enter an area containing enemy models, they engage in soldier combat.

Note: Soldiers have 1 HP for the purposes of spells and other effects.

Soldiers vs. Enemy Hero

If your soldiers entered an area containing an enemy hero, return them to your team's soldier supply. The enemy hero loses HP equal to the number of soldiers you removed this way.

If this would reduce the enemy hero's HP below 0, only remove the soldiers necessary to bring the hero to exactly 0 HP (defeating the hero), and leave the extra soldiers in the area. An enemy hero defeated this way does not award VP.

If soldiers ever share an outpost with a boss, they ignore it.

Soldiers vs. Enemy Soldiers

If your soldiers entered an area containing enemy soldiers, they will fight simultaneously. Remove one of your soldiers and one of the enemy's soldiers, repeating this until only one team's soldiers remain or there are no soldiers left in the area.

Soldiers vs. Enemy Hero and Soldiers

If your soldiers entered an area containing both an enemy hero (or heroes) and enemy soldiers, the opposing team decides how to divide the damage from each soldier before removing them.

Example: He-Man moves 3 of his soldiers into an area containing Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, and 2 Evil Warriors soldiers. The Evil Warriors players decide that Skeletor will lose 2 HP and one of their soldiers will be sacrificed. Evil-Lyn is unaffected. He-Man's 3 soldiers are then returned to his team's soldier supply.

Support Cards

All support cards can be given and traded freely between friendly heroes in the same location using the free 'Trade' action.

Beasts and Allies

Taming Beasts

A hero may tame a beast by paying its Eternium cost indicated on its card after defeating it and gaining any rewards. Beasts without an Eternium cost cannot be tamed.

A tamed beast provides a hero with the benefit listed on its card in the 'Hero Bonus' section. When a hero tames a beast, keep the card near the hero card. A hero may only have one beast or vehicle card (unless an ability specifies otherwise). If a hero already has a beast or vehicle and would tame a beast, they must discard the beast or vehicle they already have.

Gained Allies

When drawing from the wilds deck, the heroes will find allies who may join them, providing a hero with the benefit listed on its card in the 'Hero Bonus' section. A hero may only have one ally card (unless an ability specifies otherwise). If a hero would gain a new ally card, they must discard their previous ally.

Equipment, Spells, and Vehicles

Equipment

Equipment cards grant heroes abilities or increase their attributes. They come in three types: armour, artifact, and consumable.

Armour and artifacts provide an ongoing benefit while a hero has them equipped. Consumable cards provide a one-time effect when used, and are discarded immediately after.

Armour cards have a subtype such as body, head, etc. Each hero can have only one armour card of each subtype equipped (one body, one head, etc.). Each hero can have only one artifact equipped at a time, unless otherwise specified.

All other cards (including any consumable cards) are kept in a face-down area next to their hero card known as the hero's 'pack.'

A hero may have up to 5 cards in their pack at a time. If they would ever gain more, they must discard cards until they have exactly 5. A hero may freely exchange their equipped armour and artifact cards with those from the pack during their turn and outside of combat.

Spells

Unless otherwise specified, a hero may hold a maximum of 2 spell cards. Spell cards are not kept in a hero's pack, but should be kept hidden near the hero's card. After use, spells are discarded to their discard pile.

If two spells could be played simultaneously, the active player determines the order of resolution.

There are two types of spell (some spells have both types):

• Map: Map spells are used on a player's turn and outside combat. If a target is not specified, the hero using the spell is considered its target.
• Combat: Combat spells are used during epic combat, even if the hero is not involved in that combat. If a target is not specified, the friendly hero in the combat is considered the target of the spell.

If your team uses one of your spells during a combat that you are not participating in, the spell acts as if it was played by the friendly hero that is in the combat. Thus, any instance of the word "you" means your hero.

Unless stated otherwise, combat spell effects only apply during the round of combat that they are played.

Vehicles

Vehicles provide various bonuses, including an additional amount of movement points when taking the 'Move' action. They are purchased from forge merchants and kept near the hero's card who bought the vehicle. If a hero already has a beast or vehicle and would purchase a new vehicle, they must first discard the beast or vehicle they already have.

A vehicle with the flying subtype grants the hero the ability to fly. A vehicle with a +1* bonus grants the bonus only if the condition on the card is met.

Ending the Game

The fourth event space marks the final round of the game. If a boss is still in play at the end of the final round, every team loses the game!

Otherwise, the team with the most VP is the winner, and all players on that team share the victory!

Ties are broken in favor of the team with the most controlled outposts, then the most remaining combined Eternium. If there is still a tie, play an additional night round, then check for victory again. In the rare situation where the game is still tied after this additional round, each team simultaneously must secretly select a hero. The two selected heroes will fight 1 round of epic combat, the winner being declared as normal, and their team gains 1 VP.

Gameplay Variants

Solo/Cooperative Mode

You can play the game in solo or cooperative mode by following all the rule changes below. The rules in this section take precedence over the standard rules.

The most important change is the use of battle cards, which will represent the combat grid totals of the enemy hero in epic combat. Battle cards instruct you to draw one or more cards from the effect deck.

The only difference between solo and cooperative play is the number of players controlling the heroes in your team. In a solo game, you control all three heroes. But in a cooperative game you will share control with up to 2 other players.

Enemy Cards

These cards are only used during the solo/cooperative variant and are split into two categories: effect cards and battle cards.

An effect card shows: Effect, Zone identifier (for surge ability use), and Difficulty skulls. A battle card shows: Attack, Defence, Initiative, Number of effect cards, Surge card identifier, and Weapon identifier.

Setup

When setting up a solo or cooperative game note the following alterations/additions:

1. Choose a difficulty: beginner, novice, advanced, or merciless.
2. Select a solo scenario from the mission book and follow the setup rules for your chosen difficulty. It will outline where to place soldiers, quest tokens, and heroes.
3. Create the effect deck by adding the effect cards that apply to your chosen difficulty level, based on the number of skull icons printed on the bottom of the card (see below).
4. Divide the battle cards into two decks: those with the surge symbol, and those without. Shuffle both decks separately and keep them face up near the effect deck.
5. Shuffle the 'Fractures in Time' cards to be used as your scenario deck.
6. Return the victory cards to the box, as they are not used in this mode.

Difficulty Level

The difficulty level you chose applies its own specific rules:

Beginner: Effect deck: 1 Skull.

• You start the game with 4 Eternium per hero on your team, plus an additional 2. This is instead of the standard amount.
• Place 1 soldier model at each of the closest mage, shop, and forge outposts. You control those outposts at the start of the game.
• Heroes do not pay the 5 Eternium penalty when defeated.
• Heroes may always flee from epic combat without paying Eternium.
• Ignore any scenario rules or effects that instruct you to replace enemy soldiers.

Novice: Effect deck: 1 and 2 Skulls.

• When fighting an enemy hero, your hero may flee from epic combat following the standard rules for fleeing. Additionally, you only need to pay 1 Eternium to flee, instead of 2.
• At the end of any night round, add 1 soldier to all outposts held by the enemy team. Repeat until there are 3 soldiers in each outpost or you run out of models.

Advanced: Effect deck: 1, 2, and 3 Skulls.

• At the end of any round, add 1 soldier to all outposts held by the enemy team. Repeat until there are 3 soldiers in each outpost or you run out of models.
• When fighting an enemy hero, draw an additional effect card.

Merciless: Effect deck: 1, 2, 3, and 4 Skulls.

• At the end of every turn, add 1 soldier to all outposts held by the enemy team. Repeat until there are 3 soldiers in each outpost or you run out of models.
• When fighting an enemy hero, draw 2 additional effect cards.

Epic Combat (Solo/Cooperative)

Rules for epic combat against epic beasts and bosses are the same as in the standard game.

When you would fight a hero, follow all epic combat steps as if you were fighting an epic beast, except for the changes listed below.

Replace Step 1: Choose your weapon, then determine your enemy's stats with a battle card.

To find your enemy's stats, roll a wilds die. The face value shown on the die result will determine which type of battle card you'll use:

• Beginner: On a blank, draw a surge card; otherwise, a non-surge card.
• Novice: On a blank or reroll, draw a surge card; otherwise, a non-surge card.
• Advanced: On a blank, draw a non-surge card; otherwise, a surge card.
• Merciless: Do not roll, always draw a surge card.

Shuffle the battle deck indicated by the die result and draw the top card from the deck until you draw a card matching one of the enemy's weapons.

The card you draw determines your enemy's starting combat values. During Step 4 of combat, it will also determine the number of effect cards you will draw, and whether or not the enemy uses their surge ability.

In the second round of epic combat, discard the card used in the first round and roll the wilds die again. Each round will use a different battle card. The weapon your enemy uses can be the same each round.

Replace Step 3: Do not roll the epic die for your opponent. Play your cards, then move to the next step.

Replace Step 4: After finishing your actions in this step, draw cards from the effect deck equal to the number shown on the battle card. Apply them immediately as effects played by the enemy hero.

If the battle or effect card requires the use of a surge ability, use the following:

• Any surge effect activates the enemy hero's surge ability as described on their hero card. If a choice needs to be made, choose the option that is the most detrimental to you.
• If a hero's surge ability adds '+X' to a zone, it applies only if the effect card has the zone identifier.
• If no surge ability can be applied, instead add '+1' defence and '+1' attack.

If the battle and effect cards both show the surge ability symbol, activate the surge ability twice — possibly even three times!

Defeated Heroes (Solo/Cooperative)

Except when playing the beginner difficulty, the rules for defeated heroes are unchanged. However, you will lose victory points at the end of the game for each defeat you suffer. You can track this by placing a damage token on the round tracker any time one of your heroes is defeated.

Solo Scoring

The scenario can end in one of two ways: reaching the round limit or successfully completing the scenario's objective.

When the scenario ends, your solo mode score is calculated by adjusting your VP total as follows:

• Successfully completing the scenario: Beginner +2 VP, Novice +4 VP, Advanced +6 VP, Merciless +10 VP.
• Every captured enemy outpost: 1 VP.
• Every remaining day and night round: 3 VP each.
• Every defeated friendly hero: -3 VP.
• Every 3 damage on friendly undefeated heroes: -1 VP (cumulative).

Share your final scores with us and other players! Use the tag #FoEsolo.

Skirmish Mode

Skirmish mode is designed for players looking for a shorter, more competitive version of the game.

If you choose a skirmish scenario from the mission book, the following rules will take effect.

Setup (Skirmish)

Each scenario contains specific rules for game setup, but most will follow the same rules as those listed below.

Unless specified otherwise in the chosen scenario, make the following changes to the setup.

Open Hero Variant

Rather than each team choosing their heroes based on their faction, you may instead allow players to choose heroes regardless of faction.

Choose heroes one at a time until 6 heroes are in play.

When encountering an enemy in the wilds, you may choose whether to treat it as an ally or enemy.

Mounted Heroes

If the players agree and the appropriate models are in your collection, mounted heroes may be added into the hero pool. However, no more than 1 mounted hero may be chosen per team.

Starting Eternium and Equipment

Each team receives 5 Eternium per hero.

Then, starting with the first team, the heroes take turns purchasing equipment or spells from the merchant market, or passing. After a team purchases a card, replace it with a new card of its type in the merchant market. Continue until all heroes have passed, then discard all remaining Eternium from each team.

Deployment

Starting with the first team, each team chooses one of the deployment zones outlined in the scenario's rules. Deployment zones are established areas of the map under the control of a specific team. Each deployment zone may have additional rules specific to the chosen scenario.

The scenario will list a number of soldiers that must be deployed during setup. The starting team places all their soldiers first, followed by the next team until all teams have placed their soldiers. Soldiers can only be placed in outposts inside the chosen deployment zone.

Hero Setup

The scenario will list the locations where heroes may be placed. If the scenario lists more than one location, your team's heroes can be spread among those listed; they do not need to start in the same location. Starting with the first team, each team places 1 hero at a time, until all heroes are placed.

Quest Tokens

During this phase, players alternate placing quest tokens one at a time, starting with the first team.

Quest tokens must be placed following these rules:

• Quest tokens must be placed in wilds areas.
• Each wilds area may contain only one quest token.
• Quest tokens may not be placed in a location adjacent to a location containing a quest token.

Unless the scenario rules state otherwise, each team places 5 quest tokens.

Quest tokens are used in a different manner in skirmish scenarios. When performing the 'Go on a Quest' action, the hero does not draw a scenario card. Instead, the quest token is removed from the game and that hero's team gains 2 Eternium.

In order to create the scenario deck, add all epic beasts that can be tamed into one deck, from any scenario decks, shuffle together and place face down beside the map board to form the scenario deck.

Skirmish Gameplay Changes

Skirmish mode games use most of the standard rules with the few exceptions noted here:

Victory Cards: Victory cards are not used in the skirmish mode. The scenario rules will provide alternate rules for how heroes gain VPs.

Round Tracker: The round tracker does not trigger special events, unless the scenario-specific rules state otherwise.

Hero Movement: All heroes have a maximum movement value of 2, including any bonuses.

Defeated Heroes: Defeated heroes do not return to their team's base; they return to an outpost in their deployment zone. However, the chosen outpost cannot be adjacent to a wilds area currently containing enemy models.

Should there not be a legal area to add the defeated hero, return them to any location occupied by a friendly hero. If that is still not possible, place them in any area on the map that is at least 3 locations away from an enemy hero.

New Actions in Skirmish Mode

In addition to the actions available in the standard game, heroes may perform the following Skirmish-only actions:

Train (Free Action): The hero may spend Eternium to gain rewards as follows:

• Spend 3 Eternium: gain a '+2' combat card.
• Spend 5 Eternium: gain a special combat card of your choice.

Acquire Mount (Standard Action): As an action, a hero may spend 2 Eternium to draw an epic beast from the scenario deck, initiating epic combat.

If the hero manages to win the epic combat, the hero receives the regular rewards, except they do not gain any VP. The defeated epic beast is then removed from the scenario deck and can be tamed as normal.

If the hero loses the epic combat, the epic beast is shuffled back into the scenario deck.

Skirmish Game End and Scoring

Each Skirmish scenario contains special rules for how heroes gain VPs, and how the game will end.

If a scenario rule prevents you from scoring VPs when you normally would, your hero gains 2 Eternium for every VP they would normally have scored.

Example: The scenario prevents gaining VP from defeating an opposing hero in combat. After defeating an opposing hero, you would normally gain 1 VP, so instead your hero gains 2 Eternium.

Glossary

• +1* — p. 30
• Adjacent — p. 8
• Activate/Active hero — p. 11
• Allies — p. 13, 29
• Base — p. 8
• Combat deck — p. 18
• Combat grid — p. 17
• Control — p. 8
• Defeated — p. 9, 20
• Encounter cards — p. 13
• Epic beast cards — p. 14
• Flee — p. 20
• Flight Path — p. 8
• Flying — p. 12
• Focus — p. 19
• Friendly — p. 7
• Immediate — p. 19
• Initiative — p. 20
• Modifier — p. 18
• Mounted hero — p. 6
• Outpost — p. 8
• Pack — p. 29
• Path — p. 8
• Quest cards — p. 13
• Reward — p. 13, 18, 21
• Roll a die (success and failure) — p. 9
• Skull event — p. 11
• Surge — p. 18, 19
• Taming — p. 29
• Tower — p. 8
• Victory cards — p. 9
• Weapon — p. 18

Credits

• Rules Design: Dave Ketch, Jakub S. Olekszyk
• Skirmish Mode Rules: Jacek Karpowicz
• Solo Mode Rules: Kamil Białkowski
• Rulebook and Editing: Konstantinos Lekkas, Bryan Gerding, Mark Butt
• Graphic Design: Tom Hutchings, Natalia Rachowska
• Box Cover Art: Dave Wilkins
• Rulebook and Mission Books Cover Art: Dave Wilkins
• Art and Engineering: Tomasz Badalski, Tomasz Gronowski, Yoann Boissonnet, Kamila Kościerska, Bartłomiej Klupś, Konrad Rogowski, Maciej Powarunas, Łukasz Burdziak, Martyna Włodarczyk, Kamil Kowalski, Paweł Filipiak
• Project Manager: Michał Hartliński
• Production Supervision: Michał Pawlaczyk
• Head of Studio: Jarosław Ewertowski
• Gametesting and Consulting: Sebastian Diehl, Paweł Dragańczuk, Roberto Espiritu, Iwona Gawrońska, Karolina Grela, Waldemar Grela, Katarzyna Jura, Miron Kaczmarek, Aleksandra "KAJKO" Kajkowska, Sylwia Kajkowska, Filip Karpowicz, Oliwia Kieruj, Łukasz Krogulec, Dawid Kuźniacki, Artur Kwaśniewski, Filip Kwaśniewski, Karol "Hadesto" Lach, Jakub Maślanka, Piotr Marszewski, Rafał Nowak, Adam Pankau, Władysław Poniedziałek, Bartosz Perzyński, Tomasz "Student" Rudnik, Jakub Sobkowiak, Karol M. Toporowicz, Stefano Vecchi, Klaudia Żydek
• Special thanks to: Jukka Issakainen (Lore Expert and Consulting), Ken Coleman (Toy Expert and Consulting)

Masters of the Universe Classics® is a trademark owned by Mattel. ©2021 Mattel. All Rights Reserved. Archon Studio and the Archon Studio logo are TMs of Archon Spółka z o.o. Archon Studio is a ® of Archon Studio. Manufactured by Archon Studio, located at Warsztatowa 8 Street, Piła, 64-920, Poland.