Mercenaries of Gridaris Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What's in the Box?
  • How to Read the Mercenary Cards
• Setting Up the Game
• Objective
• Who Goes First?
• How to Play
  • Taking a Turn
• Example Turn
• The Final Round: The Reinforcement Phase
• Determining the Winner
  • Calculating Your Score
  • Bonus Points
  • In the Event of a Tie
• Enhanced Play Scenarios
  • Earthquake
  • Tremor
  • Two Islands
  • Class Project
  • Class War
  • Cascade
  • Carbon Copy
  • Ace in the Hole
  • Rags to Riches
  • Head Stand
  • Inverse
  • Show Whole

What's in the Box?

• Battle Map: 2 boards that combine to make the 16 total Battlefields of Gridaris.
• 5 Empire Cards: One for each playable Empire, displaying that Empire's Ruler and banner, with a quick rule reference sheet on the back.
• 80 Empire Tokens: 16 tokens per player, displaying the banner of your Empire Card. These show which player currently controls each Battlefield with a Mercenary in it.
• 40 Modifier Tokens: These tokens show if a Mercenary stationed at any one Battlefield has any Modifiers applied to it. They are only used in Enhanced Play for the Scenarios "Class War" and "Class Project" (see Enhanced Play Scenarios).
• 12 Scenario Cards: These cards introduce new rules to the base version of the game and are only used in Enhanced Play.
• 31 Silver and 17 Gold Mercenary Cards: The Mercenaries that make up each player's hand and will battle for the land of Gridaris.

How to Read the Mercenary Cards

• Combat Value: The Combat Values are the main mechanic of the game. These dictate which cards win each combat. An "A" (Ace) in the place of any number is essentially infinity and can only be beaten in certain Enhanced Play Scenarios. (See Enhanced Play Scenarios.)
• Star Rank: The number of stars represents the Rank of each Mercenary. Gold Cards have higher Star Rank than Silver Cards. Star Rank is used to calculate your final score at the end of the game.
• Class of Card: Class is only referenced during certain Enhanced Play Scenarios. (See Enhanced Play Scenarios.)

Setting Up the Game

1. Set out the Battle Map so that the 16 Battlefields are in a 4x4 grid, with the slots for Empire and Modifier Tokens on the left side of the Battlefield slot.
2. Shuffle all Silver and Gold Mercenary Cards separately and set them in their individual piles near the board.
3. Each player selects an Empire to play as, placing their Empire Card on the table in front of them and gathering all 16 matching Empire Tokens.
4. Deal 6 Silver and 3 Gold Mercenary Cards face down to each player. You may look at your cards, but be careful not to let your competition see your forces!

You are now ready to battle for the land of Gridaris!

Setup diagram labels: Empire Token Slot; Modifier Slot (For Enhanced Play Only, see Enhanced Play Scenarios); Battlefield.

Objective

Increase your score by capturing and controlling strategically placed Battlefields with high ranking Mercenaries.

Who Goes First?

To determine who goes first, mix together an Empire Token from each player and blindly choose one at random. The player whose Empire Token is selected goes first. Play continues clockwise.

How to Play

Taking a Turn

1. Place any Mercenary from your hand onto any empty Battlefield on the Battle Map, making sure to place one of your own Empire Tokens onto the Empire Token Slot to show that you control that Battlefield. After a Mercenary is played onto a Battlefield, it will remain there for the duration of the game.
2. Playing a Mercenary of your own next to another Empire's Mercenary already in play initiates "Combat."
3. During combat, compare the Combat Values on the cards. If the Active Player's Combat Value is higher than that of the adjacent Mercenaries already in play, the Active Player captures those Battlefields and their respective Mercenaries.

When you successfully capture another player's Mercenary, remove that Battlefield's current Empire Token and replace it with one of your own, remembering to leave the newly captured Mercenary Card on the board.

If the Combat Value ties or is lower than that of an adjacent Mercenary already in play, nothing happens. Each player retains control of their own Mercenaries and Battlefields.

Remember: The Mercenary you play on your turn cannot be captured by any Mercenaries already on the board, so play aggressive!

Unless stated otherwise in an Enhanced Play Scenario, Aces always win battles against non-Ace Combat Values, regardless of Modifiers.

If you are playing with Enhanced Play Scenarios, remember to follow any special Scenario Rules when resolving combat.

Play passes to the next player!

Example Turn

The example in the rulebook shows a few turns mid-game, focusing on the top left section of the Battle Map.

• Orange plays Pawberus (top right), capturing Corporate Shell and placing their Empire Tokens on both Battlefields they have captured. Pawberus cannot capture the card below but is safe from being captured since it is Orange's turn.
• With Orange's turn done, it is now Blue's turn. Blue plays Gouds the Struggler (bottom left) onto the empty Battlefield and performs a double capture, since both of Gouds the Struggler's Combat Values are higher than the adjacent Mercenaries'. Blue then places their Empire Tokens on every Battlefield they captured that turn.

The Final Round: The Reinforcement Phase

After the last empty Battlefield in Gridaris has been claimed, it is time for the Final Round: The Reinforcement Phase. This is one last-ditch effort to capture any Battlefields that you may not already control.

Each player may take one final turn if they so choose, but they may only play onto Battlefields that they currently control, covering and replacing the Mercenary that is in play on that Battlefield. Combat resolves as usual before moving on to the next player's turn.

The player who controls the least Battlefields at this point may choose who they would like to start The Reinforcement Phase!

After this decision is made, The Reinforcement Phase continues clockwise just like previous rounds.

• If two or more players control the same amount of Battlefields, the player with the lowest total Star Rank across all of their controlled Mercenaries will go first.
• If a player gets wiped off the board before their turn during The Reinforcement Phase, then they are out of the game and out of luck!

When covering and replacing one of your Mercenaries during The Reinforcement Phase, remember that you don't count the Star Rank of the Mercenary you cover up when you tally your final score!

If the Mercenary you are replacing has any Modifiers on it, remember to remove the old Modifier and replace it with the appropriate Modifier for the Enhanced Play Scenarios (see Enhanced Play Scenarios).

Determining the Winner

Calculating Your Score

After The Reinforcement Phase is complete, players will count up the total combined Star Rank of every Mercenary they control, giving them their Base Score.

Remember, Mercenaries covered/replaced during the Reinforcement Phase do not count toward your final score!

Bonus Points

Players can also score bonus points based on the shape of the Battlefields they control:

• 3 bonus points for each 2x2 square.
• 5 bonus points for each column or row of 4.
• 6 bonus points for each 2x3 rectangle.
• 10 bonus points for each diagonal of 4.

Each Mercenary you control at the end of the game may count toward each of the bonus shapes once per shape.

Example: Let's say someone has captured 2 x 4 Battlefields. These Mercenaries contribute to two rows of 4, a pair of 2x2 squares, and one single 2x3 rectangle, but no more than that. In this case, the example would be +22 Bonus Points at the end of the game.

After adding your bonus points to your base score, the player with the highest score is the winner and the new Ruler of Gridaris!

In the Event of a Tie

The tied player who controls the most Battlefields wins. If they control the same number of Battlefields, the player with the most high ranking Mercenaries wins. After that, if they're still tied, figure it out yourself!

Enhanced Play Scenarios

If this is your first game of Gridaris, you can ignore this section and play the base version of the game now!

Feeling adventurous? Enhanced Play adds over 60 different ways to change the rules of the base version of Gridaris to spice up gameplay!

For Enhanced Play, draw two random Scenario Cards before the game starts to introduce new rules to the game. These 12 Scenarios add elements to the base version of the game to change the way players approach playing their Mercenaries!

Scenario Cards and Modifier Tokens are used for "Enhanced Play" and may be set aside if playing the base version of the game.

Each Scenario has unique rules, explained below. There are over 60 combinations of Scenarios, so try them out when you and your table feel ready to enhance your gameplay!

If an Enhanced game involves choosing two of these at random, there are also a few notes on how the Scenarios interact with one another.

Earthquake

This Scenario MASSIVELY erupts the land of Gridaris, changing the Battle Map from a 4x4 grid to a 2x8 grid.

Tremor

This Scenario KIND OF erupts the land of Gridaris, shifting the Battle Map into a geometric "S" or "Z" shape.

If any two of these three Scenarios (Earthquake, Tremor, Two Islands) are drawn together, then the players at the table get to decide how they want the Battle Map to be formed!

Two Islands

This Scenario COMPLETELY erupts the land of Gridaris, splitting the Battle Map in half, creating two separate 2x4 islands.

Class Project

When you play a Mercenary, all four of its Combat Values receive a Positive Modifier equal to the number of Mercenaries of that same class already in play (Max. +5). Place a Positive Modifier Token in the Modifier Slot next to the affected Mercenary.

If "Class Project" and "Class War" are drawn together, then they cancel each other out.

Class War

When you play a Mercenary, all four of its Combat Values receive a Negative Modifier equal to the number of Mercenaries of that same class already in play (Max. -5). Place a Negative Modifier Token in the Modifier Slot next to the affected Mercenary.

In both of these scenarios, Modifiers affect the Combat Values on the active player's card BEFORE the Mercenary is deployed onto the field.

In the Class War Scenario, an Ace might go against another Ace. An Ace +1 beats a regular Ace, and an Ace -1 loses to a regular Ace!

Even with Positive Modifiers, a Mercenary with a 9 will still lose to an Ace, since an Ace is worth infinity.

Cascade

Now, when a Battlefield is captured, any Mercenary Cards adjacent to the newly captured Battlefield with losing Combat Values are also captured. This Scenario only extends to one space maximum around the newly captured Battlefields.

Example: Eldrial the Scorned (top card) is played and captures Mop Queen. Mop Queen then "Cascades", capturing the 3 cards around it since she has higher Combat Values than all of the adjacent Mercenaries! However, the Cascade could not continue past any of the cards that were captured by Mop Queen.

Carbon Copy

Now Combat Values that are equal on adjacent sides also cause a Battlefield to be captured by the Active Player. Basically, the Active Player now wins ties.

If "Carbon Copy" and "Cascade" happen to be drawn together, then it is probably going to be a crazy game!

Ace in the Hole

All Aces are now treated as a Combat Value of 0. They no longer automatically win combat.

If "Ace in the Hole" is drawn along with "Inverse," then Aces are back to being the strongest Combat Value in the game.

Rags to Riches

Play your cards in order of Star Rank (lowest to highest).

If you have multiple cards of the same Star Rank, you may choose amongst them which card to play first.

Head Stand

After set up, draw two cards at random from either of the Mercenary decks. Mercenaries of those classes now have the ability to be played upside down or right side up for the duration of the game, at the Active Player's discretion.

The Active Player may only choose to flip their Mercenary upside down as they play it. Once they are played, Mercenaries must remain in that orientation for the duration of the game.

Inverse

The lesser Combat Value now wins in combat. However, Aces remain the winner in combat.

Show Whole

Reveal your entire hand by placing them face-up on the table in front of you. These cards are still your hand and may be played normally, but must remain face-up in front of you for all other players to see for the duration of the game.