Nightfall: The Coldest War
Nightfall: The Coldest War Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- What's New?
- Night and Fog: Us?
- Welcome to Nightfall!
- How to Play
- Taking a Turn
- The Combat Phase
- The Chain Phase
- The Claim Phase
- The Cleanup Phase
- The End of the Game
- Reference
- Night and Fog: Them?
- Quick Reference
- Cards in This Set
What's New?
For those of you who bought previous versions, here's what's new in this set:
- The draft rules have been modified (see "The Draft").
- New starting minions allow for more options (see "Starting Decks").
- Moon Cards (see "Moon Phases (Optional)").
- New actions can modify minions (see "Actions That Modify Minions").
- There is a new wound effect to explore.
- A constructed deck format has been introduced (see "Constructed Deck Format").
Night and Fog: Us?
by Kenneth Hite
Vadim Kerechov shifted his eyes toward the window, hunched his shoulders in his trench coat, and watched nothing get closer. The people in the reflection moved aside for something that didn't reflect; a vampire trying to stay incognito in the herd. He shifted his gait, a frightened lamb. He breathed in and out, raising his heartbeat, deliberately triggering a sweat. Biofeedback, all in a day's work for a Banner Unit asset… back when there were days. Now, it gave his stalker something to chase, something to get its fangs dripping.
Into the mighty GUM department store, open 24 hours a night now, because why not? The worst that could happen was a mass grave, and Muscovites, after centuries, were inured to these things. His follower followed; Kerechov could feel it almost without checking in security mirrors and makeup stands. Now, the tricky part.
Not the lift of the cologne, that was simplicity. The dodge into the dressing room had to look panicked, not clever. His tail had to follow the scent and the pulse, and then feel confident of making a kill. This part was better even than dodging MI5 in London had been. This was what Vadim Kerechov was born to do.
Inside the dressing room, he had to change. Leave the sweat-stained shirt, dump the recognizable Burberry. Slow his pulse to a whisper, splash on the cologne, shrug into a Ralph Lauren knockoff someone had left on the rack, slip on new glasses, and then move just noisily enough and gangly enough to be someone else. Blend into the crowd, double back, a quick rack of the slide on the special-issue FSB Izhmekh PV 10mm pistol, already chambered with mahogany bullets. No range to speak of, but he didn't need it. Not when the vampire was in a two-meter by two-meter changing room, standing in front of a useless mirror, angrily shredding his trench coat.
He shot her in the back, lathed hardwood right through the heart at two-thirds the speed of sound.
On the way out, he took another Burberry off the rack.
Vadim closed his eyes to shut out the grim, dull, empty scenery of western Romania. He wished he could shut out the prattle of his porcine driver, but the fool had to talk.
"Normally we don't need any help killing vampires here, you know. Or werewolves, or ghouls. This is Transylvania; we taught the rest of the world how to kill such things for a thousand years."
And it was true. The ugly concrete apartment buildings all had wild roses and wolfsbane planted around them; there were UV lights at every crossroad in town; plenty of ash trees grew everywhere. If the vile meal he had been served on his arrival at the train station in Timisoara was any guide, the locals doused everything in garlic, too.
"But for this thing, we had to have the best. We needed, er, Asset Seven."
Vadim clenched his fists. Only the Americans would make a war for survival of the species into a comic book. Everyone with a secret code name and a hidden identity, cowboy braggarts on the damned Internet. The world had ended in nightfall, and he still had to listen to Americans. And be "Asset Seven" when Romanian peasants needed their hands held.
In his youth, when Yuri Andropov had pinned the Order of Lenin onto his uniform personally, Vadim had thought something could be done about the Americans. Shaking Andropov's hand was almost like what shaking Stalin's hand would have been like, he had thought.
Those were good days, when a KGB officer was like the angel of death. Or like a Roman procurator, crucifying rebels and burning towns. Vadim had killed his share of rebels, all over the empire, in actions that no one had heard of even today, even with the damned Internet. But he never quite got to burn a town before the Wall fell.
"It's just around here. Just near this grove of trees," the driver was saying. Babbling, really. And sweating. This thing had better be worth the trip from Moscow to Romania, Vadim thought. It had been a miserable flight back in the Eighties, and it had been an even worse trip by train. He looked around again, shaking off the miserable trip, seeing the place with suddenly alert eyes. Against all odds, this spot looked familiar. The empty farmhouse … yes, it was familiar. He had been here before.
"Recognize it?" came a new voice, behind him. The fat driver had pressed a button and lowered the window on Vadim's side. He could feel the dank breeze, cold from the north, blowing down off the Carpathians. He could feel the gun pointed at his head.
"You were here over twenty years ago. You killed a girl to save the dictator Ceauşescu. And he fell anyway, just six months later."
I killed her to save international socialism, Vadim thought. And it was already fallen by then. But at least I don't have to listen to any more Americans. Or Romanians. He shot the driver and dived for the door. There was a roar and a pain in his back and night fell one last time.
Vadim opened his eyes and stared up at the black sky. He experimentally clenched his fists. They clenched. Then he experimentally inhaled. Nothing. Vadim sat up, pieces of leaf mold falling away, bits of dried grass shaking loose. He quickly felt for his pulse. Nothing.
It took him very little time to deduce what had happened: if anything, his mind worked faster, more deviously. He had been killed by treachery, and left to lie unburied in the north wind, under the dark of the moon.
As any Russian peasant would know—though apparently not a Romanian peasant—that was how you brought a zalozhniy into being. In English, the word might be "wight" or "wraith," but Vadim was a Russian, and now he was a zalozhniy. He would walk the Earth killing until his natural lifespan expired.
Time to get started, then. They had taken his gun, of course, but they had left his combat knife in his boot. Vadim stood up and walked over to an ash tree, reached up and snapped off a limb. The knife flicking, he quickly peeled back the bark and began cutting. He still had vampires to kill, after all, especially if the locals were as stupidly overconfident about that as they had been about him. Even if they were right about Transylvania, he thought as he pinched off chunks of wood, there were still vampires out there somewhere. And he would kill them, until his natural lifespan expired. That was what Vadim Kerechov had been reborn to do.
He hefted the new-cut stake in his hand. It would do. Then he looked down, at the small pile of wood chunks and splinters he had made. This, too, he could use.
After all, he had a town to burn.
Welcome to Nightfall!
"Come in, come in! You'll catch your death standing out there."
—Sophia Ostrava
You and your opponents control terrifying forces—creatures long thought to be mere folklore—each seeking to destroy the others. Your minions and actions seek to wound your rivals so that you can seize your rightful place as ruler of a ruthless, darkness-choked world. The one who proves himself the strongest when the ashes finally settle is the victor!
Game Components
- 228 Order Cards (see the back cover for a list of titles)
- 60 starting minions (yellow title text)
- 84 additional minions (red title text)
- 84 actions
- 60 Wound Cards
- 30 card-draw effects (10 of each keyword)
- 15 strength effects (5 of each keyword)
- 15 chain effects (5 of each keyword)
- 24 Draft Cards
- 31 Card Dividers (to help organize the cards)
- 6 Moon Phase Cards
Setup
Unpacking the Game
Separate the wound, draft, and order cards into separate piles. The wound cards (top right) have a type (bite, burn, or bleed) as well as thematically matching artwork. Draft cards have "DRAFT" watermarked across the artwork.
Next, separate the order cards by name. You should have 30 piles of order cards: 18 of minions and 12 of actions.
Locate the 6 starting minion piles. Each of these piles should have 10 cards. The cards' names are printed in yellow, and they have a cost of 0. The starting minions are: "Clever Ivan", JAREK, "Kilo 13", Patrol Zombie, "Snowstorm", and "Victor One".
Use these to create five 12-card starting decks, each containing 2 copies of each of the six starting minions.
Place the wound, draft, minion (12), action (12) and starter deck (5) piles into the box, using the included card dividers to sort them however you like.
Now that you've unpacked, the world of Nightfall awaits!
Preparing to Play
Shuffle all the wound cards and place them face down in a stack near the middle of the table. Count off cards from the top of the stack equal to ten times the number of players (i.e., 30 cards for a three-player game) and turn them face up, leaving them on top of the wound stack, and leaving the others face down.
For longer games, count off an additional five cards per player.
The Draft
If this is your first game of Nightfall, we suggest you skip the draft and use the quick-start pairings below. If you are going to draft, decide how many sets you are going to play with, and shuffle those draft cards together.
Deal cards into the center of the table equal to 8 minus the number of players (e.g., deal 3 cards to the center in a 5-player game). These cards are placed face up, and form the commons. Players are free to inspect these.
Deal draft cards face down to each player. The quantity you deal out depends on how many sets you're using, and how much flexibility you want in drafting. Deal 4 cards if you are playing with a single set, 5–6 cards if you're using two sets, and 7–10 cards when using three or more sets.
Place the rest of the draft cards back in their section of the box.
Each player chooses one of his draft cards and places it face down in front of him. This card determines each player's first private archive. Players pass their remaining draft cards to the player on their left.
Each player chooses a second draft card from those that were just passed, placing it face down next to the first card. This determines each player's second private archive. Players pass their remaining draft cards to the left.
Each player takes one of these passed cards and places it face down in the center of the table, adding to the commons. Place the remaining draft cards in each player's hand back in the "DRAFT CARDS" section of the game box.
Turn all draft cards in the commons and private archives face up. Replace each draft card with the corresponding pile of seven order cards to create the various archives. The draft cards are not used during play; they are simply used to help set up the game. Return them to the box at this time.
Keep the order cards in separate stacks, sorted by name, making sure to keep private archives separate from the commons.
Players will be able to add these cards to their decks over the course of the game to build their deck and their strategy.
Quick Start: Give each player one of these archive sets.
- "Banner 89" + Doktor Nyilaszy
- "Bone Cruncher" + Foul Revenant
- Dog Eat Dog + Emil Balev
- Gathering Strength + Sophia Otrava
- Gregor Dzanic + "Kaos 33"
- "Asset Seven" + Full Battle Rattle
- Katya Iliyevna + "Smiling Biter"
2-Player Drafting: For 2-player games, certain cards are very powerful. Thus we recommend that you draft as follows:
- 1st: Removed
- 2nd: Private archive
- 3rd: Private archive
- 4th: Commons
Starting Decks
Give each player one starting deck, which must have 2 copies of each of the six different starter minions. Any extra starting cards will not be used in the game.
If you are mixing in the original starting minions from Nightfall or Nightfall: Martial Law, then each player can customize his starting deck. Each player selects two cards of each of the six colors to form his starting deck. These cards can be old minions, new minions, or a mix of the two, in any combination.
Each player shuffles his starting deck and draws five cards to form his hand.
Final Steps
If you are going to use the Moon Phase stack (see "Moon Phases (Optional)"), take them out of the box, shuffle them, and place them face up by the commons.
Determine a first player by any mutually agreeable method (e.g., whoever was most recently bitten by a dog, or most recently had to watch a sparkly vampire movie).
You are now ready for Nightfall!
Setup Diagram
A diagram illustrates what the setup for a two-player game might look like after a couple of turns. Each player has a Deck & Discard to one side, two Private Archives, and Minions in Play in front of him; the Wound Stack sits nearby, and the eight-archive Commons is laid out alongside it.
How to Play
Nightfall is a game of the near future, a game of resolute humans and fierce creatures of horror struggling to seize control of a perpetually darkened world.
Overview
Each player has his own personal deck of cards that he uses during the game. Your deck begins with a dozen weak cards. You strengthen and improve your deck by "claiming" orders from your private archives—cards that you will select—and the commons. All players can claim cards from the commons, but only you have access to your private archives.
Players take turns, with play always passing to the left. On your turn your minions attack your opponents. Then you may create a "chain" of orders from your hand. However, your opponents may add their own cards to your chain when you are done. The cards in the chain then resolve in the opposite order that they were played.
Your minions and actions inflict wounds on your opponents. The player with the fewest wounds at the end of the game has proven he is the strongest, and wins the game!
The Bottom Line: Minions come and go. Orders are disposable. Stay focused on the key: Wound your opponents. At the end of the game, that's all that matters.
The Basics of Nightfall
The following rules are the foundation of Nightfall:
Decks, Discard Piles, and Archives
You have your own deck of cards. You only draw cards from your own deck. You also have your own discard pile. You may look through your discard pile at any time, but not your deck. You may not look through any other player's discard pile or deck unless a card allows you to do so.
If at any time you need to draw cards and there are not enough cards left in your deck, draw as many cards as you can, shuffle your discard pile to make a new deck, and then finish drawing cards as needed. If you empty your deck but do not need to draw any more cards, leave your deck empty. Do not shuffle your discard pile until you need to draw another card.
As your cards are discarded or destroyed, place them face up on top of your discard pile. Any new cards you claim are also added to your discard pile.
Archives are stacks of order cards that are not owned by any player. You can acquire these cards during the claim phase of your turn. Archives are always kept face up and visible to all players. There are two types of archives. The eight archives in the center of the table are called the commons, and they are available to all players. You also have two archives in front of you, called your private archives. Only you can claim cards from these archives. When an archive is emptied of cards, it ceases to exist for all game purposes.
Exiled cards are removed from the game and do not return to any discard pile, deck, or archive. This includes wounds that are exiled.
Friendly & Opposing
Your private archives, the minions you control, the orders you play, and any game text on those cards are all considered friendly to you. Private archives, minions, orders, and game text belonging to the other players are all considered opposing.
Archives in the commons are neither friendly nor opposing. Individual cards stacked in any archive (whether it is a private archive or an opposing archive) do not belong to anybody and are considered neither friendly nor opposing.
The Order Cards
Your deck is composed of order cards. There are two varieties of orders: minions and actions. Actions are cards that have a quick, immediate effect and then leave play. They're one-and-done. Minions remain in play to attack your foes—if they can survive long enough.
Anatomy of the Cards
All order cards have a color, which is indicated by the moon icon in the top left corner of the card. Beneath the card's color icon are one or two smaller moons. These icons indicate the link colors for that card. See Chaining Cards for an explanation of how link colors are used.
On the right edge of the order card, next to the card's name, is a large number in yellow. This is the influence cost that you must pay in order to claim that card during your turn (see The Claim Phase).
Action card. It has a steely frame, and no red number in the upper right-hand corner. Once it resolves in the chain, it gets discarded immediately. Its parts are: Card Color, Link Color(s), Cost to Claim, Card Name, Text Area, Kicker Color, Kicker Area.
Minion card. It has a black leathery frame, a red strength number in the upper right-hand corner, and red bars representing its health. Once it resolves in the chain, it is put into play, where it can defend you and attack your opponents. Its parts are: Card Color, Strength, Health, Link Color(s), Cost to Claim, Card Name, Text Area, Keyword Line, Kicker Color, Kicker Area.
Every card in Nightfall has some game text that explains the effects of the card when played. IMPORTANT: If the text on a card seems to contradict these rules, the card's text always takes priority over the rules.
Game text that starts with "Chain:" is called chain text, and appears on both minions and actions. This text takes effect when that card is resolved as part of a chain. Game text that starts with "Your Chain:" only takes effect if you started the chain. Game text that starts with "In Play:" appears on minions and certain actions. This text takes effect after the card is resolved and the card is in play.
More About Minions
Minion cards represent followers that you control. Unlike action cards, every minion has a strength value in the upper right corner. This is the amount of damage that the minion inflicts when it attacks (see The Combat Phase). Each minion also has a keyword that describes which species it is: vampire, lycanthrope, ghoul (zombie, etc.), or hunter (human).
Finally, each minion has health, which is the amount of damage it can sustain before it is destroyed. Health is indicated by a number of red slashes on the sides of the card. Minions come into play upright, with their highest health value showing at the top. For each point of damage inflicted on a minion, rotate its card 90° clockwise. This reduces the minion's health (shown on what is now the top edge of the card) by one.
Many minions have In Play text. Some of these are always active, while others have an effect that takes place at a specific time (e.g., "When this minion attacks..."). When several in-play effects trigger at the same time, the active player controls the order they resolve.
Starting Minions
Each player begins the game with twelve starting minion cards in his deck. These minions can be identified by the yellow color of their card title. Starting minions also have a claim cost of 0.
All starting minions have the in-play text "Exile when destroyed or discarded," or "Exile when destroyed." Exiled cards are removed from play and do not go to your discard pile or deck. Thus, barring card effects, a starting minion can only be put into play once; when it gets destroyed or discarded, remove it from the game.
Wound Effects
Each wound card has a special effect printed on it. You may use one wound effect on one wound card each turn. Once you've used a wound effect, you can use no other wound effects of any type for the rest of that turn (except that the newest wound type specifically allows it).
Note that each of the various wound cards tells you when it can be played.
Target
Some order cards require you to choose which specific player, minion, archive, wound, or order in the chain is affected. The game text on these cards always uses the word "target." However, you never target cards in your hand or your deck. You choose the targets for these cards the moment they resolve, not before. Cards in the chain may not target themselves.
Cards that require no choice (e.g., "damage all opposing minions") do not target individual minions or players. Any card effects that alter or prevent targeting do not affect these cards.
Simultaneous Events
Nothing in Nightfall happens simultaneously, though sometimes actions may appear to occur at the same time. If multiple events happen at once, the player whose card triggered the event chooses the order in which events resolve. For example, if a player's card inflicts damage to every player, that player chooses the order in which the players take that damage.
Card Effects and Abilities
Card effects are one of the most interesting and interactive parts of Nightfall, so we want to be sure that you understand how they work.
Actions That Modify Minions
The Coldest War introduces actions that are placed into play attached to a minion (specifically Still Standing and Full Battle Rattle). Place such an action underneath the minion, so that it is still visible. These actions are not minions, and cannot be targeted by card effects that target minions. When a minion with attached actions leaves play (gets destroyed, discarded, sent back to your hand or deck, etc.), all actions attached to that minion are sent to the discard pile.
Chain Effects
Effects labeled "Chain:" or "Your Chain:" are explained under The Chain Phase.
Combat Effects
Some cards have "Combat:" followed by an action. All combat effects are used only when the card is played from your hand; they have no effect if the card is in play or in the chain.
You can use combat effects at any time during the combat phase unless specified otherwise (see also Simultaneous Events above). Using a combat effect does not require color matching and does not trigger chain or kicker text.
Cards labeled "Your Combat" can only be used on your turn.
Feed Effects
Some in-play, chain or kicker text has "Feed:" followed by an action.
Feed allows you to repeat that game or kicker text by paying the price (performing the action) listed after the word Feed. You can do this as often as you like, so long as you can (or are willing to) keep paying the price. You cannot feed text that did not resolve (i.e., it was a kicker that you didn't get, or an effect prevented the card from resolving).
If a card exiles itself as part of its chain text, you can still feed it to get additional uses from its chain text; the card does not exile itself until after all of its feed uses are spent.
Example: Janet's "Smiling Biter" has a feed effect in its in-play text. When the card is sent to attack, she resolves the text once. Per the feed effect, she can then discard two of her cards to resolve it again if she wishes (up until she runs out of cards).
In Play Effects
Some cards have text labeled "In Play:" followed by an effect. Some of these effects are always "on" whenever the card is in play. Other in play effects can be optionally triggered at the start of any phase. Resolve such effects using the Simultaneous Events rules above.
Some minions have the ability to feed their in play text. This works just like it does with chain text. Remember that all ongoing effects cease at the end of each turn.
In play text ceases to work immediately after the card is destroyed or discarded. Of course, if that text would save the card from being destroyed or discarded, it works as expected.
Moon Phases (Optional)
Nightfall: The Coldest War also includes new moon phase cards. The use of these cards is completely optional.
The phase of the moon has an influence on the game as a whole, affecting all players. The effects take place during the phase indicated on the card. If you decide to use moon phases, shuffle the 6 cards and place the stack face up near the commons. You may not inspect the moon phase stack.
At the end of each player's turn, that player chooses to:
- leave the moon phase as is,
- move the current phase to the bottom of the stack and flip the top one face up, or
- shuffle the stack and reveal the top card.
Example moon phase card: Butcher's Moon — Global Chain: Negate all damage from chain text inflicted on vampires.
The moon phase stack is not considered an archive, and cannot be affected in any way other than what we have just described here.
Taking a Turn
Players take turns in clockwise order. On your turn you must play through four phases. Each phase must be completed before the next phase begins. All phases must be played in order as follows:
Combat Phase
All your minions in play must attack other players. After attacks are resolved, discard your minions from play.
Chain Phase
You may create a chain of orders by playing a card, and possibly linking additional cards. Once you are finished, your opponents may extend your chain by adding their own cards.
Claim Phase
You may acquire cards from the commons or your private archives by spending influence.
Cleanup Phase
If you have less than 5 cards in your hand, you must draw until you have 5. Once you are done, all ongoing card effects end. You can adjust the moon phase if desired.
Once you have completed all four phases, your turn ends. The player to your left now begins his turn.
The Combat Phase
"They say Stalin killed more people than Hitler and Genghis Khan put together. It's good to have goals."
—Katya Iliyevna
If you have any minions in play at the start of your turn, you must use them to attack other players. Each minion attacks one of your opponents. You can send multiple minions against the same opponent, or divide your minions among opponents as you see fit.
You must send all your attackers at once. Once all your attackers are assigned, resolve each combat in the order you choose.
Example: It's Scott's turn and he has three minions: Katya Iliyevna, Sophia Otrava, and "Bone Cruncher". He decides to send Katya Iliyevna and Sophia Otrava to attack Brad, and "Bone Cruncher" to attack Janet.
If the defender has minions in play, he can assign one or more of them to block attacking minions. A blocking minion cannot block more than one of the attacking minions. However, several minions may gang up to block the same attacking minion.
Note: Defending minions do not inflict any damage on the attackers. They only absorb damage.
Example: Brad also controls three minions. He assigns his "Kaos 33" and his Kaspar Udunian to block Sophia Otrava, and has his Gregor Dzanic block Katya Iliyevna. Janet has no minions in play, so the "Bone Cruncher" is not blocked.
Each attacking minion now inflicts damage equal to its strength. If the attacking minion was blocked, the damage is first inflicted on the blocking minion (see Damaging Minions for details). If there are multiple blocking minions, the defender chooses the order in which the blocking minions take damage. One minion must absorb as much damage as possible (i.e., until all the damage is absorbed or the minion is destroyed) before the next blocking minion takes any damage.
The defending player receives one wound for each point of damage that is not absorbed by blocking minions.
Example: Brad gets to decide the order in which his minions block the attacking Sophia Otrava (who has 3 strength). He wants to save Kaspar Udunian to attack with later, so he chooses "Kaos 33" to absorb damage first. "Kaos 33" has 2 health, so she absorbs 2 damage and gets destroyed (she goes to Brad's discard pile). The remaining 1 damage from Sophia Otrava is applied to Kaspar Udunian. Brad rotates Kaspar Udunian 90°, reducing his health to 2.
Meanwhile, Katya Iliyevna also has a strength of 3. Brad's Gregor Dzanic, who blocked it, was damaged in a previous turn and only has 2 health left, so Gregor Dzanic is destroyed and the 1 remaining damage is inflicted directly on Brad.
Damaging Minions
The current health of a minion is shown by the red slashes on the top edge of the card. Each point of damage reduces the health of the minion by one.
When a minion takes damage, rotate the card clockwise 90° for each health lost. This reduces the number of red slashes on the top edge of the card by one. If your minion rotates clockwise off its last point of health (away from the side with only one red slash), it is destroyed and placed in your discard pile.
Some card text restores health; rotate the card counter-clockwise to restore health to a minion. You may not restore a minion past its highest health.
Damaging Players
Players do not have health. Instead, wound cards represent the damage a player suffers during the game. When damage is inflicted upon you, you receive one wound card from the top of the wound stack for each point of damage you take. Always place wound cards on top of your discard pile.
Example: Scott's "Bone Cruncher" attacked Janet without being blocked, so all of its damage is inflicted directly on the unfortunate player: Janet takes 5 wound cards from the top of the wound stack and puts them in her discard pile!
Blocking Direct Damage
A small number of minions, such as "Bad Smoke" from the base game, have an in-play ability that allows them to block damage inflicted directly on the player who controls them. This includes damage from chain effects and damage that gets past blocking minions after resolving attacks. These minions have in play text that says: "This card blocks damage inflicted on you."
If you have one of these minions in play when a card inflicts damage on you, the minion must block it just like it was blocking an attacking minion. That is, it still takes damage, loses health, and may be destroyed just as in the Combat Phase.
These minions do not help you when you "receive wounds" as a card effect.
Discarding Minions
After all damage is resolved by all your attacking minions, you must discard all of your minions in play. Your combat phase is now complete.
Note: Some minions, such as Flesh Golem, are not discarded at the end of your combat phase. These minions have the in-play text: "Do not discard this card at the end of the Combat Phase" (in previous sets, "This card stays in play until destroyed.") These cards can leave play and be placed in your hand or onto your deck by other card effects; their text only prevents them from being discarded at the end of the Combat Phase.
The Chain Phase
Once all your attacks have been resolved, you may play orders from your hand for various effects. You can bring minions into play, inflict damage on opposing players or minions, or help your cause in a variety of other ways.
Chaining Cards
Order cards are played from players' hands to form a chain. A chain is one or more cards played in a sequence.
At the beginning of your chain phase, you can play any one card from your hand for free, without restriction. This is called "starting a chain."
You can add more cards to the chain, but each card you play must link to the latest card played in the chain. Each card has a large moon icon in the top left corner. This signifies the card's color. Beneath the color icon are two smaller moon icons. They show the link colors for that order. You can only link a card to a chain if the color of your card matches a link color on the last card played in the chain.
Example: This Doktor Nyilaszy is a white (aka silver) card. It can only link to a card with a white link color symbol. Only blue and gold cards can be linked to the Doktor Nyilaszy card in a chain. Janet starts her chain by playing the Doktor Nyilaszy card for free—she doesn't have to link the card to anything. Next she adds a "Banner 89" card to the chain. She can add the "Banner 89" because it is a blue card, and her Doktor Nyilaszy card links to either blue or gold.
You can only link a card to the most recently played card in the chain. You cannot "jump" over other cards to link to a card played earlier.
When you are done adding cards to your chain, each of your opponents has a chance to link one or more cards from his hand, as long as he has a card that can link to the last card in the chain. Start with the player to your left and proceed around the table. All cards added to the chain must link to the last card played (even if that card was played by another player).
Example: Scott begins his chain with a Dog Eat Dog card. Since that's his only card, he can add nothing else to his chain. Brad links a Full Battle Rattle to Scott's chain (he can link because the Full Battle Rattle is green, which matches one of the link colors on Dog Eat Dog). Now Janet can link her Kaspar Udunian (gold) to Brad's Full Battle Rattle, and link a "Banner 89" card to her own Kaspar Udunian.
Each player has only one opportunity to link cards to a chain. Each opponent may link as many cards as they like, following the requirements for linking a card to the chain. A player may add to a chain even if the player before him chooses not to.
After each player has had a chance to play cards, the chain is complete.
If you do not play any cards during the chain phase of your turn, there is no chain, and no one else can play cards.
Play Tip: Play cards in a chain at a 45° angle to show that they have not yet resolved. You can overlap your cards that are linked together in the chain. Straighten each order to vertical as it resolves. This makes it easy to tell which cards have resolved, which minions are in play, and which order was played last.
Play Tip: Since you can see the card colors of the next player's private archives, try to leave him link colors that are hard for him to chain.
Resolving the Chain
Once all players have either linked cards to the chain or passed on the opportunity to do so, resolve the cards in the chain, starting with the last card played and ending with the first card.
Remember: Last in, first out.
Start with the very last card linked to the chain, regardless of which player added it to the chain. Follow the chain text on the card fully (the text that begins with "Chain:" or "Your Chain:"). If the chain text requires the player to target another card (i.e., choose a victim for his nefarious plots), this is when that target is chosen. Cards that are resolving cannot target themselves.
Remember that "Your Chain" effects only happen if the card was played by the person who started the chain.
When an action is resolved, place it on top of its owner's discard pile.
When a minion is resolved, place that minion into play in front of its owner.
Minions in a chain are not "in play" until after the card resolves. This means that any card that affects a minion cannot target a minion card that is still part of the chain.
After the last card played has been resolved, move on to the next card in the chain. Continue resolving cards in the reverse order that they were played (going back around the table counter-clockwise), until each player has finished resolving each of the cards they played. Resolve all orders played by a player before moving to the next player's cards.
Example: The last card played on the chain was Janet's "Banner 89" card, so it resolves first. Then her Kaspar Udunian, followed by Brad's Full Battle Rattle. Finally Scott resolves his Dog Eat Dog card and the chain is finished.
If you cannot resolve all effects of the chain text (for example, if you must discard a card from your hand, but your hand is empty), obey as much of the text as you can. That card still resolves, and you continue with the rest of the chain.
You must resolve all chain text on a card even if you don't want to! It is possible that an earlier card in the chain changed the situation in such a way that the chain text on your card has become a disadvantage to you!
Often, the game text on a card will tell you to inflict damage on a player or minion. This damage is resolved the same as damage inflicted during the combat phase. Note, however, that excess damage that targets a minion does not spill over to the player.
Kickers
Most orders have kicker text at the bottom, with a color shown to the left of the kicker text. If you link an order directly from a card of the color shown next to the kicker text, you must also resolve the kicker when the card resolves (even though the card you linked to has not yet resolved).
A card's kicker text resolves after its chain text, or, in certain cases, modifies the chain text.
Example: Full Battle Rattle has a red icon next to its kicker text. Since Janet linked her Full Battle Rattle to a red "Asset Seven" card, she must use this kicker when Full Battle Rattle resolves. The only minion currently in play is her own "Bone Cruncher", so she damages "Bone Cruncher"—she figures that's a fair trade for getting Full Battle Rattle into play underneath "Bone Cruncher" right before her turn.
An Example Chain
It's Janet's turn and she starts her chain:
- First she plays Full Battle Rattle. It has gold and silver link colors.
- Then she plays Unholy Resurrection. Unholy Resurrection is a silver card, so it can be linked to the Full Battle Rattle. Unholy Resurrection has blue and gold link colors.
- Janet decides not to add any more cards to her chain.
- Scott (sitting to Janet's left) adds a R&D card to Janet's chain. It's a blue card, so he can link it to Unholy Resurrection. Scott decides not to play any more cards.
- Brad plays Katya Iliyevna. That's his only card, so the chain ends.
Now that the chain is complete, the cards are resolved in reverse order:
- Brad's Katya Iliyevna resolves first. He gets to inflict one damage on a player, so he picks on Scott. He'd also love to remove Scott's hunter, but Katya Iliyevna didn't get her kicker. Brad places Katya Iliyevna upright on the table to indicate she is in play.
- Scott's R&D resolves next. He draws two cards. Unfortunately, R&D also didn't get its kicker. He discards it.
- Janet's Unholy Resurrection card resolves next. She is the only one with a ghoul in her discard (a Doktor Nyilaszy), she gets to place it into play.
- Since Unholy Resurrection was linked to a green order (Full Battle Rattle), Janet gets Unholy Resurrection's kicker effect: she places two cards from an unwanted archive to clog up Brad's deck. Janet has resolved all of Unholy Resurrection's text, so she discards it.
- Full Battle Rattle finally resolves. Janet places Full Battle Rattle underneath her Doktor Nyilaszy. Hopefully he'll survive until her next turn.
The Claim Phase
"In a thousand years of icy night, only the blood stays always warm."
—Kaspar Udunian
In this phase of your turn, you may claim cards from your private archives and the commons. You cannot claim exiled cards or cards from opposing private archives.
In order to claim a card, you must spend influence. You start each of your turns with two points of influence. You can earn additional influence from some card effects. You can also discard cards from your hand during your claim phase; each card you discard gives you one point of influence. Note that discarding a starting minion in this manner does not exile the card, because it was never in play.
You can discard cards even if you do not intend to spend the influence earned. This is a method of discarding unwanted cards from your hand.
The influence you must spend to claim a card is shown to the right of the card's name.
Play Tip: Pay attention to the link colors being passed your way, and draft some cards to transition from those colors to colors that you want to play.
Example: This Dog Eat Dog has an influence cost of 3. Brad needs 3 influence to add this card to his deck. Since he starts his turn with 2 influence, he only needs to discard 1 card from his hand to get all the influence he needs to claim Dog Eat Dog. Since this uses all of his influence, he will have to discard more cards to claim anything else this turn.
You may claim as many cards as you like, including multiple copies of the same card, as long as you have enough influence to pay for all of them. All cards that you claim are taken from the top of each archive and placed face up on top of your discard pile.
Once an archive is empty of cards, it ceases to exist and may not be targeted.
You cannot claim cards during other player's turns without a card effect.
Any unused influence is lost at the end of your turn.
Remember: Influence = 2 automatic + influence from card effects + 1 per discard.
The Cleanup Phase
The last thing you do on your turn is draw cards. If you have fewer than 5 cards in your hand, you must draw cards from your deck until you have 5 cards in your hand.
After drawing cards, check your hand for wound cards. You may use one effect printed on one wound card in your hand once per turn. You may not use effects on any other wound cards you have in your hand, or on wound cards that you draw as a result of using the first wound effect. If you used a wound effect earlier in the turn, you cannot use another one now.
Nightfall: The Coldest War has three types of wounds, only one of which can be used in the Cleanup Phase. Expect other types of wounds to be released in future expansions.
Example: Brad draws 2 wound cards during his cleanup phase. He discards both of them and draws 4 more cards. One of these is another wound card, but since he already replaced wound cards once, he can do nothing more this turn.
All card effects end at this time.
Finally, if using the moon phase cards, you can adjust the moon phase stack at this time.
The End of the Game
When the last face-up wound card is taken from the wound stack and given to a player, the game ends. Finish resolving cards in the chain or damage from attacking minions, depending on which phase it is. Keep track of any additional wounds received by using the face-down cards in the wound stack (and previously exiled wounds if necessary).
Example: Brad linked an Inhuman Wave card to Scott's chain. When that card resolves, he inflicts 2 damage on a player of his choice. He chooses to have Janet suffer the damage. She receives 2 wounds from the wound stack. Janet receives the last face-up wound from the wound stack (the game will therefore end after the chain is finished). Janet still receives the second wound from Inhuman Wave, so she grabs a face-down wound. The players then continue to resolve Scott's chain. Once the chain is finished, the game ends.
Each player totals the number of wound cards he has in his deck, hand, and discard pile. The player with the fewest wound cards wins the game!
If there is a tie for the least number of wounds, count the number of bite, bleed, and burn keywords each person has on their wounds. Each player compares their highest count; the player with the lowest high count wins. If still tied, compare the second highest total.
If there is still a tie, the person closest to the right of the first player wins.
Example: Brad and Janet are tied at 7 wounds each. Brad has 3 bites, 3 burns, and 1 bleed. Janet has 1 bite, 4 burns, and 2 bleeds. Since Janet has 4 of her most frequent wound and Brad has only 3, Brad wins the tiebreaker.
Reference
Constructed Deck Format
Some fans have requested a constructed deck format for Nightfall, thus allowing them to play a game as one of the four factions. If that's the way you want it, AEG is only too happy to oblige, so here are the rules:
- Each player constructs two 12-card private archives prior to playing.
- There can be no more then 3 copies of any single card in both archives combined.
- Players also construct a 15-card wound stack of wounds of their choice, no quantity limits.
- There is no draft. There are no common archives.
- Players shuffle each of their private archives and place them face up.
- Players shuffle their wound stack and place it face down.
- Players may never claim from opposing archives, nor can they move a wound into an archive. This rule cannot be overridden by card text.
- Players take wounds from their personal wound stacks.
- When a player's wound stack runs out, they are immediately eliminated from the game, thus there can be no ties in this format.
- When a wound would be exiled, place it on the bottom of that player's wound stack instead.
The constructed format can be mixed with constructed starter decks as well as the moon phase stack for additional options.
Other Variants
Common Ground: Players do not have private archives. Instead, the first two cards they draft are placed in the commons. Draft cards not chosen are removed from the game.
Hidden Archives: Do not fill the commons before drafting. Instead, fill them only after drafting is finished. This makes kickers harder to get.
Secret Archives: Do not replace the draft cards in your private archive with stacks of order cards. Instead, leave them face down until you want to claim one of those order cards. When you do, replace the draft card with the stack of matching cards.
Team Play: In a game with 4 or 6 players, those players seated opposite each other are teammates. Victory is determined by the total number of wounds in each team's decks.
Upstream Draft: Pass your draft cards to the right, instead of the left. Perhaps you can get the player to your right to draft cards that will feed your chain.
End-of-the-World Series: Play a series of games, keeping track of each player's wound score at the end of the game. When someone reaches 100 total wounds, the player with the lowest total score wins.
The Lexicon of Nightfall
Here you can find definitions for the terms used in Nightfall. Refer to them as needed.
Action: A subtype of order that has an instant effect when played in a chain.
Attack: To send your minions to damage another player during your combat phase.
Archive: Multiple copies of a single card type organized into a stack. Each archive starts with 7 identical cards.
Block: To use a minion to defend against another player's attacking minions. Also, in certain cases, to use a minion to defend against damage inflicted against a player. Blocking minions absorb the damage, often at the cost of their lives.
Chain: A series of linked cards in the process of being played.
Chain Text: Game text on a card that begins with "Chain." Chain text takes effect when the card is resolved as part of a chain. See also Your Chain.
Claim: To buy a card from an archive by spending influence.
Color: Each order has a color, represented by the moon icon in the top left corner of the card.
Combat Text: Special abilities on certain cards that take effect as a sort of surprise measure. Players use combat text by discarding the card from their hand.
Commons, The: The 8 central archives from which anyone can claim cards.
Deck: Your personal deck of cards that you will expand and modify during the game.
Destroyed: When a card is removed from play by taking excessive damage or by a card effect that uses the word destroy. When a card is destroyed, place it on its owner's discard pile.
Discard: To place a card on top of your discard pile, face up.
Double Kicker: Much like a double cheeseburger. Look for it in an upcoming release.
Draft Cards: Placeholders used to facilitate setup. Not used during the game.
Draw: To take the top card from your deck and add it to your hand.
Ethnic Food: The exact definition varies based on the homeland of your vampire or werewolf.
Exile: To permanently remove a card from the game.
Feed: An effect that allows you to repeat chain or kicker text by paying a price.
Friendly: A card under your control, including minions you have in play, orders you add to a chain, and your private archives.
Game Text: The effect that a card has on the game when played. There are two types: "chain" text and "in play" text.
Hand: The cards you are physically holding.
Health: How durable a minion is, represented by red slash marks around the sides of the card.
Inflict: How damage gets from your fist to his face.
Influence: A resource spent for claiming cards.
In Play Text: Game text on a card that begins with "In Play," found only on minions. In Play Text takes effect the moment the minion enters play (by being resolved as part of a chain), and remains in effect until the minion leaves play (such as by being destroyed or discarded).
Keyword: Special text on minion cards that tells which race the minion is.
Kicker: Additional chain text that is only triggered if you link an order to the proper color.
Link: To add a card to a chain by matching the card's color to another card's link color.
Link Color: The color(s) of cards that can be linked to an order. Most orders have two link colors.
Minion: A subtype of order that represents a follower you can bring into play and control.
Opposing: Cards under your opponents' control, including minions, orders, and private archives.
Order: The cards that are linked to make a chain. There are two subtypes: minions and actions.
Private Archives: The 2 archives from which only you can claim cards.
Receive: How you get wounds from damage. When you receive a wound, transfer one wound card from the top of the wound stack to your discard pile.
Starting Deck: A 12-card deck that holds 2 each of the six starting minions. Each player starts with this same deck at the beginning of the game.
Starting Minion: One of the 6 types of starting minion cards that begin in each player's deck. All starting minions have only one link color and have a purchase cost of zero.
Strength: How much damage a minion inflicts when it attacks, represented by a red number in the upper right-hand corner of the card.
Target: The chosen victim of a card's effect, or the act of choosing such a victim. Targets are not chosen until a card resolves as part of the chain.
Text: The writing on a card. Could refer to in-play text, chain text, or kicker text.
Wound: Cards that signify damage you have endured that get shuffled into your deck.
Wound Effect: An action you can take using wound cards in your hand during your turn.
Wound Stack: The stack of wound cards, which are acquired as players take damage. The wound stack contains 10 face-up cards per player, the rest being face down.
You, Your: Refers to the person who played the card (or, in the case of card theft, currently controls the card).
Your Chain: Chain text that only takes effect if it is your turn.
Comprehensive FAQ
- All Fears Revealed (CW): The kicker does not allow you to claim cards outside of your Claim Phase.
- Alton Hickman (NF): Players cannot assign minions to block Alton Hickman, however damage he does to you can still be intercepted by "Bad Smoke" and Vulko. They are blocking the damage, not Alton Hickman himself.
- "Bad Smoke" (NF, BC): Yes, he can block damage inflicted on you, but he still gets damaged as in combat. His text does not prevent him from being taken from play and placed back into your hand or onto your deck; it only prevents him from being discarded at the end of combat. Treat it as saying, "In Play: Do not discard this card at the end of the Combat Phase."
- Bait and Switch (ML): Per the rules, cards are drafted from the top of this new archive.
- Blaine Cordell (NF): If you can get him into play without resolving his chain text, he comes in at 4 health. If you resolve his text while he's in your hand (e.g., by Ghoul Summoning with kicker), he immediately enters play at 2 health.
- Chan Jiang (ML): Yes, this lets you grab a card outside of your Claim Phase.
- Charlotte Reyes (NF, BC): If you discard this card from your hand for influence or due to a card effect, it is not exiled because it was never in play.
- "Clever Ivan" (CW): If you discard this card from your hand for influence or due to a card effect, it is not exiled because it was never in play.
- Dark Awakening (NF): This does not resolve kicker text, since the target card was never in the chain. It does not allow you to resolve Your Chain text on other people's turns.
- Death Grip (NF): Yes, the kicker can deal less pain, but wounds received cannot be blocked by the likes of "Bad Smoke". If this is not what you want, don't chain to activate its kicker.
- Enraged Wight (NF, BC): If you discard this card from your hand for influence or due to a card effect, it is not exiled because it was never in play.
- Exit Strategy (BC): Yes, this captures an opponent's card permanently. Hope you can chain it.
- Flank Attack (NF): The chain text does not remove the target card from the chain, thus it will not prevent a linked card from getting a kicker from the target. Yes, the kicker allows you to grab an order for free during someone else's turn, but it does not give you the privilege of targeting an opposing archive.
- Forlorn Hope (ML): The kicker refers to the order you exiled. If someone tries to rules lawyer this any other way, they receive 1 wound.
- Gather the Pack (BC): The healing part of the kicker is optional, as written.
- Gathering Strength (CW): You may discard cards you just drew.
- "Genesis One" (NF, BC): If you discard this card from your hand for influence or due to a card effect, it is not exiled because it was never in play.
- Ghoul Summoning (NF): This does not resolve kicker text, since the target card was never in the chain.
- Grim Siege (NF): You can target any player, but only the active player has influence to lose.
- Grotesque Revenant (ML): His text does not prevent him from being taken from play and placed back into your hand or onto your deck; it only prevents him from being discarded at the end of combat. Treat it as saying, "In Play: Do not discard this card at the end of the Combat Phase."
- "Indigo Six" (NF): His chain text makes your influence worth double. It does not double your influence, nor do multiple copies stack. Another way to look at this is that he slaps a "50% of list price" sticker on the archives. His kicker allows you to claim cards from opposing archives during your Claim Phase. You don't claim them immediately, nor are they free of cost.
- Infected Ghoul (BC): You must use its kicker or another card effect to get it into play.
- Inhuman Wave (CW): Damage inflicted on players can be blocked by cards such as "Bad Smoke" from the base game.
- Ivan Radinsky (NF): He targets a minion in play.
- J. J. McTeague (NF, BC): If you discard this card from your hand for influence or due to a card effect, it is not exiled because it was never in play.
- "Kaos 33" (CW): She does not allow you to claim cards outside of your Claim Phase.
- "Kilo 13" (CW): If you discard this card from your hand for influence or due to a card effect, it is not exiled because it was never in play.
- Koi Jiang (ML): Yes, this stacks. It can get quite nasty.
- Leave Me! (NF): You choose the targets for the chain text and the kicker text. If you get the kicker text on this card, it resolves both chain and kicker (if applicable) on the target card twice, and you can choose different targets for each resolution. If multiple copies of this card target the same card, the last one to resolve wins out; if the card resolves twice due to a previous kicker, the last card resolved still chooses all targets. If multiple kickers target the same order in the chain, it still only resolves twice, per the card text.
- Marcus Toth (NF): He does not go to your hand at the end of the attack phase, because at the end of your attack phase your minions are discarded, not destroyed.
- Nian Jiang (ML): If someone uses their Nian to grab your Nian, they do not get any creatures your Nian took control of. Also, as implied by the text, Nian's effect does last past the end of the turn.
- "Overwatch Two" (NF): Remember, all card effects end at the end of each turn.
- "Pale Fury" (ML promo): Can destroy itself.
- Patrol Zombie (CW): If you discard this card from your hand for influence or due to a card effect, it is not exiled because it was never in play.
- Pipe Bomb (BC): Taking the wounds from the bottom of the stack avoids shortening the game. When a wound is on top of an archive during your Claim Phase, you must claim that card for 0 influence.
- "Queen's Bishop" (ML): This damage happens before blockers are chosen.
- "Shadow Seven" (NF promo): Only protects you, not your minions.
- Sir John Travail (NF): Each copy reduces your costs by 1. His kicker text will resolve both chain and kicker text on the next card, if the next card qualifies to get a kicker. If Sir John affects a card already targeted by Leave Me!, the card still only resolves twice, per the text.
- "Smiling Biter" (CW): His kicker only creates a second Combat Phase. After it ends, you do not get a second Chain Phase; move straight to your Claim Phase.
- "Snowstorm" (CW): Yes, his strength will vary as opposing minions are destroyed. Timing is everything. If you discard this card from your hand for influence or due to a card effect, it is not exiled because it was never in play.
- Tactical Prep (ML): If you get the kicker, you must of course reveal the card you drew.
- Vampiric Turning (BC): As implied by the text, this effect does last past the end of the turn.
- "Victor One" (CW): You claim the card as normal during your Claim Phase. You must still pay the cost. If you discard this card from your hand for influence or due to a card effect, it is not exiled because it was never in play.
- Vulko (NF): Yes, he can block damage inflicted on you, but he still gets damaged as in combat.
- Wight Trash (BC): That's right, you will only get to attack with him if you chain him during the turn of the player to your right. Otherwise he'll be destroyed before your Combat Phase.
- Yuri Koroviev (NF, BC): If you discard this card from your hand for influence or due to a card effect, it is not exiled because it was never in play.
See also www.nightfallthegame.com/faq
Copyright © 2011 Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc. Nightfall, The Coldest War, Alderac Entertainment Group, and all related marks and images are TM and © Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in China.
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Credits
- Design: David Gregg
- Development: Edward Bolme, Brent Keith, Todd Rowland, Mark Wootton, John Zinser
- World Development: Kenneth Hite, jim pinto, Todd Rowland, John Zinser
- Art Direction: Todd Rowland, with Edward Bolme
- Graphic Design: Thomas Deeny, Ronnie Dyer, Hal Mangold, jim pinto, Mark Quire, Paul Timm
- Writing: Kenneth Hite
- Editing: Edward Bolme, Murray Chu, Ryan Metzler
- Typesetting: Edward Bolme, Todd Rowland
- Brand Management: Todd Rowland
- Production: David Lepore
- Covert Art: Andrew Hepworth
- Art: Conceptopolis ("Asset Seven", JAREK, "Kilo 13", Patrol Zombie, "Victor One"), Edwin David (Blowtorch Triage, "Bone Cruncher", "Clever Ivan", Dog Eat Dog, Foul Revenant, Full Battle Rattle, Gathering Strength, Gregor Dzanic), Markus Erdt (Emil Balev, Routine Questioning, "Snowstorm", Unholy Resurrection), James Hall (Wound: Bite, Wound: Burn, Wound: Bleed), Andrew Hepworth ("Banner 89", Doktor Nyilaszy, Katya Iliyevna, Sophia Otrava), Erich Schreiner ("Kaos 33", Kaspar Udunian, Power and Glory, "Smiling Biter", Still Standing), CB Sorge (All Fears Revealed, Fresh Meat, Inhuman Wave, R&D).
- Playtesting: Brandon Arehart, Daniel Baker, Samantha Baker, James Belyeu, Andreas Böhm, Markus Böhm, Nicolas Bongiu, Zachary Boyd, Cliff "Doc" Christiansen, Stuart Clark, David Coakley, Sébastien Duthu, Loren Elifrits, Emilie Sigal Falgayras, Stacy Hauser, Austin Link, Franck Lopez, Rob Mackie, Ryan C. Metzler, Jeremy Sammons, Michael Schmeeckle, Benoit Sigal, Dave Snoddy, Kyle Sundberg, Steve Wallace, Mark "M-Dog" Wootton.
- Special Thanks: To the gamers at BoardGameGeek.com who helped develop David's Chainmaster mechanic, upon which Nightfall is based.
"If zombies are biological weapons, they are not ones covered by your charter, gentlemen. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a new silver mine to run."
—"Victor One", quoted in a transcript of a closed session of the Special UN Subcommittee on Nonproliferation
Night and Fog: Them?
by Kenneth Hite
It was either the glowing reagent or the sound of gunfire that awakened Jarek. The reagent came from an automatic dispenser, clamped to an IV drip. Five bags of blood flowed into the drip, labeled J, A, R, E, K.
That was how Jarek learned his name. Then the gunfire tore the door off its hinges, splattered the blood, blew the glass and plastic to powder, and felt like nothing more than raindrops on his chest. He looked down—there were bruises there, big ugly ocher ones. But they didn't hurt, and they didn't stop him from standing up—and up, until his head towered seven feet off the ground. That was how Jarek learned what he was.
Somehow, one part of Jarek knew what the repurposed medical and chemical equipment was for, and another part of him knew that the men in black Kevlar holding Heckler & Koch 53A3 assault carbines were GSG13, Germany's new "undeath squad" tasked to kill monsters. He wanted to kill them, or surrender to them, or (three votes) escape them. Majority ruled. Jarek's legs flung him backward, toward the window. He smashed through reinforced glass and chicken wire and into a wrought-iron balcony that twisted under his weight. More bullets through the window—the Germans' reflexes were good; they'd probably just changed loads to silver. Those bruises were smudgy and grey; they didn't hurt either. Nor did the drop from the balcony to the cliff side below, or the tumble into the rushing water, or the icy river filling his lungs.
The water cut off the sound of gunfire, and even the explosion blossoming from the tower sounded muffled and indistinct. Jarek clambered erect, and took another minute to decide on a direction. Then he turned and started walking slowly and steadily downstream, pulling stitched and sutured feet up from the muck of the bottom.
When you can lie placidly on the bottom of a river or a pond, or lock your arms and legs around a treetop and hold that position for hours or days, or bury yourself in an open grave for a night or two, it's remarkably easy to stay hidden from even a more than ordinarily watchful population of European villagers. There were plenty of empty buildings, too, bombed out or raided early after Nightfall, if Jarek thought he could risk it.
It's not that Jarek was inconspicuous: seven feet tall, dull yellowish-gray skin, covered in angry red stitches: probably everyone on the continent would recognize him from late night movies, even if they would get his name wrong. But even the best hunter patrols make noise, and one of Jarek's ears was really very keen. He could get out of their way, drop or climb out of sight, and just stay utterly still.
It was all under control, all very stable, until Jarek met the necromancer.
It was in Bratislava, where Jarek had wandered mostly out of a desire (by two of his selves) to hear music and see lights, even if he would have to move much more carefully through the streets and sewers of a city. He had been up on the roof of the concert hall, listening to Dvorak's Fourth drifting up through the ventilation shafts, when he felt it. The tugging, at all the edges, all the ripples, all the little hooks and eyelets in his mind. He could barely see his own hands as he found his body climbing down into the parking structure, moving without his will toward the furtive, sallow man holding his hand in the Sign.
The teeth the necromancer still had were very yellowed, some of them filed to points. The others had been replaced with steel or ceramic by indifferent Balkan dentistry. Jarek never learned his name, although the necromancer recognized him. Not from the movies, either; the necromancer called him "Nyilaszy's project," and all of Jarek remembered Nyilaszy: the operations, the saws, the fluids, the sweat and heat and stifling. Those memories hurt more than bullets; they churned up more mud than footprints on a river bottom.
But they were replaced by worse ones, because the necromancer turned Jarek into a tool for killing. The necromancer needed fresh meat: barely-cold bodies to enslave. Not every body made a good zombie, but the necromancer wasted nothing. Those teeth were busy.
When the werewolf jumped them in the cemetery, the necromancer had a string of six very good zombies, not counting Jarek.
It was gray, and faster than anything Jarek had ever seen. It tore two of the zombies completely in half, snapping them off where the spine met the pelvis, with two huge blows of its forepaws. The necromancer nearly swallowed his tongue in terror, but managed to make the Sign, and shrieked out "Kill it!" for good measure.
Two more zombies obediently moved forward and were almost instantaneously gutted, but one stayed on his feet long enough to tangle up the were's claws in its intestines. The remaining two swayed up on that side, the left side, and toppled into the beast's hip, tumbling it to the ground. Jarek moved around to the right side, and took an experimental cut at the wolf's snout. He nearly lost a hand for his trouble; his un-zombielike reflexes fooled the were by scant seconds. By then, the werewolf had freed his gore-choked paw and was pulping a zombie's head, skull fragments spraying.
But as the gray pulled its hind legs under itself for a spring, Jarek danced around the thing's back and hammered the beast under the short ribs. The were, still held down by three corpses (one of them still animated), couldn't evade, and the kidney punch slammed home like a cannonball. Jarek wrapped his arms around throat and forelimb, and began to squeeze. The werewolf's legs snapped out, hind claws incidentally slashing the last zombie from knee to sternum. Its feet drummed on the soil as Jarek tightened his grip still further. The were's free claw raked at Jarek's face, his exposed side, the arms that held him prisoner. Jarek ignored the strange sensation of his flesh parting and ratcheted up the pressure again. The wolf now threw his whole strength into the fight, his dying desperation; corded sinew looping and writhing against Jarek's muscles, sweat-matted fur scraping Jarek's dull skin raw.
With a sudden snap, the werewolf stopped moving. All of him in agreement for once, Jarek adjusted his grip on the beast. When he threw five hundred pounds of dead werewolf at the necromancer, it made less noise than Jarek had expected: only a muffled crunch like a hollow pepper. Then Jarek bent over the body; there was a brief whimper and then more snapping noises.
Jarek made almost no noise climbing the back wall of the cemetery, and he made no noise at all running down the highway toward the woods.
Quick Reference
Combat Phase — All your minions in play must attack other players. After attacks are resolved, discard your minions in play.
Chain Phase — You may create a chain of orders by playing a card, and possibly linking additional cards. Once you are finished, your opponents may extend your chain by adding their own cards.
Claim Phase — You may acquire cards from the commons or your private archives by spending influence.
Cleanup Phase — If you have less than 5 cards in your hand, you must draw until you have 5. All card effects end.
Cards in This Set
Starting Minions
- "Clever Ivan"
- JAREK
- "Kilo 13"
- Patrol Zombie
- "Snowstorm"
- "Victor One"
Draft Minions
- "Asset Seven"
- "Banner 89"
- "Bone Cruncher"
- Doktor Nyilaszy
- Emil Balev
- Foul Revenant
- Gregor Dzanic
- "Kaos 33"
- Kaspar Udunian
- Katya Iliyevna
- "Smiling Biter"
- Sophia Otrava
Draft Actions
- All Fears Revealed
- Blowtorch Triage
- Dog Eat Dog
- Fresh Meat
- Full Battle Rattle
- Gathering Strength
- Inhuman Wave
- Power and Glory
- R&D
- Routine Questioning
- Still Standing
- Unholy Resurrection
Promos
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