Pack of Heroes Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Contents
• Meet the Teams
• Hero Card Overview
• Setup
  • Choose Teams
  • Setup Bases
  • Draw Starting Hands
  • Place Starting Heroes
  • The Game After Setup
• Gameplay
  • Movement
  • Main Action — Bring 1 Hero Into Play
  • Main Action — Use 1 Power
  • Un-stun
  • Draw Power
• Powers
  • Powers Used When a Hero Is Put Into Play
  • Powers Used On Your Turn
  • Powers Active While the Hero Is In Play
  • Powers Used On Your Opponent's Turn
• Game End
• Advanced Game — Weapons
• Strategy Tips

Game Contents

• 40 hero cards — 5 hero cards in the 8 set teams.
• 8 team cards
• 18 power cards — 2 sets of 9 cards, each with 3 cards of the 3 colours of power.
• 12 weapon cards
• 2 reference cards
• 25 wound markers
• 4 stun markers
• Rules booklet
• Hero Almanac
• Mini comic

Meet the Teams

Liberty LeGENDS — THE NICE-GUY PATRIOTIC TEAM! These heroes are all-rounders and can do a little bit of everything. Good for beginners.

Elementeens — TEENAGERS WITH ELEMENTAL POWERS! Use each hero at the right time for powerful effects.

Knights of the Five Realms — FANTASY CHARACTER CLICHÉS! They have some strong attacks and powers that affect power cards.

Safari Squad — A TEAM OF ANIMALS AND HALF-ANIMALS! Many of their powers involve movement. A bit harder to use.

Freak Show Five — CIRCUS FREAKS TURNED GOOD! They specialise in performing multiple powers in a single turn.

The Guild of Ghouls — SCARY, SPOOKY AND OOKY HEROES! Their strength is stun powers and surprising game effects.

Data Brigade — ROBOTS OF ALL SHAPES AND SIZES! They specialise in constant powers which create automation. Difficult to use.

Galactanauts — A FAMILY OF SPACE-TRAVELLING ALIENS! Their powers help team members in useful ways.

Hero Card Overview

• Health: The number of wounds the hero can take before it is defeated.
• Rank: The square that the hero's health is in represents its rank. GOLD is a leader. SILVER is a fighter. BRONZE is a sidekick.
• Name: The name of the hero.
• Arrival power: A special power that happens as soon as the hero is placed.
• Movement ability: This icon represents how the hero can move.
• Set team: The colour of the card background represents the player's set team. (The team's name and logo is also on the card back.)
• Power type: These icons show the type of each power the hero has.
• Power value: Some powers also have a number value. For example, attacks do a certain number of damage.
• Power cost: These icons indicate which power cards must be spent in order to use the power.
• Power name and description: This text tells you what each power does.

Setup

Choose Teams

First the players decide randomly who will be the start player. Then the players decide which method they will use to pick what heroes will be in their team:

Use a set team: Each player simply chooses a set team of heroes, and takes all 5 hero cards in that team. (A hero card's set team is indicated by background colour, and the team logo on its back). The start player chooses a team first, and then his opponent. Or for a random selection, you may shuffle the 8 team cards, and deal 1 to each player. This indicates the team they will play. Playing with set teams is highly recommended for your first few games!

Draft a team: The players choose 3 set teams to be present in their game. They can make the selection by joint decision, or randomly, by shuffling the team cards and dealing out 3. All hero cards from these selected teams are laid out on the table. Experienced players may like to choose more than 3 teams to draft from.

Beginning with the start player, the players take turns choosing one hero card for their team, and placing it face-up in front of them. This is done until each player has 5 heroes. A player may never choose a hero which makes his team exceed the following:

• Leader (L): 1 leader per team.
• Fighters (F): 2 fighters per team.
• Sidekicks (S): 2 sidekicks per team.

Choose your team wisely!

Setup Bases

Each player sets up their base. That is, the area on the table where their draw pile, reference card and discard pile are. The area on the table between the 2 players' bases denotes the 3 x 3 grid of spaces in which the game is played (see diagram overleaf).

Each player takes a set of 9 power cards (the 2 sets are differentiated by their backs). Each player shuffles them and places them in a face-down draw pile. To the right of this, they place a reference card, which acts as a reminder of the rules of play. Then each player draws 1 of their power cards, and places it face-up to the right of their reference card. This is the start of their discard pile. These 3 piles mark the 3 columns of the play area.

During the game the contents of the players' discard piles is open information. It is best to splay discarded cards slightly, so their colours can be easily seen by both players.

Place the wound and stun markers off to the side, in reach of both players. If you run out of markers, use something else as a stand-in.

Draw Starting Hands

The start player draws 1 of his power cards into his hand, and his opponent draws 2. A player's hand is secret throughout the game, although the number of cards in hand is open information.

Place Starting Heroes

Each player takes all of his hero cards into his hand, and chooses 1 without the other player seeing. Then they are both revealed simultaneously. Each player then places his chosen card on the centre space in the closest row to his base (see diagram overleaf).

Note: If these heroes have arrival powers, they are not carried out.

Once in play, who each hero card belongs to is denoted by its orientation (that is, the card will be the right way up to the player it belongs to). The players then lay their remaining hero cards face up on the table as their reserve.

The Game After Setup

The play area is a 3 x 3 grid of spaces between the two players' bases. Each base consists of a power card discard pile, a power card draw pile, and a reserve of hero cards not yet in play. Each player's starting hero is placed on the centre space of the row of spaces closest to that player's base.

Gameplay

The start player takes the first turn. Then the players alternate turns for the rest of the game.

A turn looks like this in overview:

1. Movement: The player may move 1 hero.
2. Main action: The player may either bring 1 hero into play OR use 1 power of a hero in play.
3. Un-stun: The player un-stuns any heroes who have been stunned for a turn.
4. Draw power: The player may draw 1 power card. He then discards down to 3 power cards in hand.

Movement

At the start of your turn, you may move 1 of your heroes that is already in play. A hero's movement capability is indicated by one of these two icons on its card:

• Run: The hero can move up to the number of adjacent (not diagonal) spaces indicated. He does not have to move in a straight line, and may turn corners. He may only move through vacant spaces. That is, he may not move through other hero cards.
• Fly: Flying is the same as running except that the hero may move through other hero cards, effectively 'flying' over them. However, he must end his movement in a vacant space.

The player simply slides the card he is moving to its new space, taking any wound or stun markers with it. You may not move a stunned hero. Heroes may not double-back (occupy the same space twice) during a movement.

Main Action — Bring 1 Hero Into Play

Choose 1 of the hero cards in your reserve and place it face-up on any empty space in the row of spaces closest to your base. If all 3 spaces in this row are occupied, you may not bring a hero into play this turn. After being placed, if the hero has an arrival power, it is now carried out. See "Powers" for more details.

If you use your main action to bring a hero into play, you may not also use it to use a power.

Main Action — Use 1 Power

Choose any power on a hero card that you have in play. You may not use the powers of stunned heroes. Discard power cards from your hand that meet the power's power cost. These cards are placed face-up on your power card discard pile. The power cost is indicated by red, green and blue icons, as follows:

• A single red icon: This power costs 1 red power card to use.
• A red icon next to a green icon: This power costs 1 red OR 1 green power card to use.
• A blue icon marked "x2": This power costs 2 blue power cards to use.

The power is then carried out. See "Powers" for more details. If you do not have the appropriate power cards, you may not use the power.

Using attack powers: If you successfully use an attack power, place wound markers on the attacked hero's card, equal to the amount of damage you did.

Defeating a hero: If the attacked hero now has wound markers equal to or greater than its health, it has been defeated! This hero card is removed from the game.

Making a hero faint: When an attack takes a hero from being less than half-wounded to half-wounded or worse, he faints! This happens when the wound markers just placed take the total wound markers on the card to equal or greater than half the hero's health (rounded up). For example, if a hero with 7 health and 2 wounds receives 2 wounds, it now has 4 and is half-wounded.

When a hero faints this means he is stunned. Place a stun marker on this hero. This hero may not use a power or move until the end of his next turn. If a hero is later healed and then wounded, he can faint again.

Important note about main actions: If you have no heroes in play, you must use your main action to bring a hero into play. If you cannot because all 3 spaces in the row closest to you are occupied with opponent's heroes, your base has been captured and you immediately lose the game (although this is rare!)

Un-stun

If any of your heroes have been stunned for the entire turn, you now un-stun them by removing their stun marker.

Draw Power

You may draw a card from the top of your power draw pile and add it to your hand. The majority of the time you will want to draw a power card. If you now have more than 3 power cards in hand, you must discard cards (of your choice) down to 3. A player may have more than 3 cards in hand during a turn, but must discard to 3 at this point. Remember, a player's hand is secret, although the number of cards in hand, and the contents of his discard pile is open information.

If at any time during the game your power draw pile is depleted and you need to draw a power card, shuffle your discard pile to create a new draw pile and then draw a card.

Powers

Each hero's powers are listed on its card. For a full description of how each hero's powers work, see their entry in the Hero Almanac. The following is an overview of each type of power in the game.

Powers Used When a Hero Is Put Into Play

Arrival power: These powers may be used once when a hero is put into play. Every arrival power is different so read the text on the card. Arrival powers do not cost power cards to use.

Powers Used On Your Turn

Force attack: Force attacks damage an enemy in an adjacent (not diagonal) space to the attacker. This enemy gains wounds equal to the power's value.

Spread attack: Spread attacks damage all enemies in the 4 spaces adjacent (not diagonal) to the attacker. If attacking multiple enemies with a spread attack, each attack is considered separately. The attacking player chooses the order in which he makes the attacks. Attacked enemies gain wounds equal to the power's value.

Range attack: Range attacks can damage any 1 enemy, regardless of what space it is in. The player chooses 1 enemy, and it gains wounds equal to the power's value.

Stun power: Stun powers stun an enemy, meaning they will not be able to move or use their powers until the end of their next turn. To indicate that a hero is stunned, place a stun marker on it. This marker is removed at the end of the hero's next turn. Read the text on the card for more details. A hero cannot be stunned again while already stunned. Stunned heroes may be healed. Some heroes can cause themselves to be stunned. In this case, they must remain stunned until after their next turn.

Heal power: Heal powers allow you to remove wound markers from a hero, as directed. Read the text on the card for more details. Stunned heroes may be healed. They remain stunned, even if healed to less than half-wounded.

Powers Active While the Hero Is In Play

Constant power: These powers can be used once per turn, every turn. That is, they do not use up your main action. Every constant power is different. Read the text on the card and do what it says. Constant powers do not cost power cards to use, unless indicated.

You may use constant powers at any time on your turn. This includes before your initial movement, but not after you draw power. If you have multiple heroes with constant powers in play, you can use these powers at different points in your turn and in any order. However, each constant power can only be used once per turn.

You may choose not to use a constant power, unless specifically mentioned. A hero may use their constant power on the turn that they were placed. A hero may use their constant power as well as another of their powers in a turn. A stunned hero cannot use their constant power.

Powers Used On Your Opponent's Turn

After your opponent attacks one of your heroes, you may choose to activate a defend power. However, you must still be able to pay the power's power cost.

Defend power: Using a defend power after an enemy's attack means this attack will only do half damage, rounded down. For example, a defended attack of 2 or 3 will only do 1 damage. An attack of 1 will do no damage. Read the text on the card for more details. A defend power may be used multiple times in a turn. Non-attack powers that make a hero "gain wounds" cannot be defended. Heroes can never defend themselves with their defend power.

Game End

As soon as a player defeats his opponent's final hero, he is the winner!

On rare occasions, a player can also lose the game if his opponent captures his base. That is, a player loses if he has no heroes in play, and cannot bring a hero into play because all 3 spaces in the row closest to his base are occupied with opponent's heroes.

On very rare occasions a game will end in a stalemate. This is when both players have 1 hero left in play and decide it is not in their interests to move or attack any further. In this case, the player whose hero has the most health remaining wins the game. If both players have the same remaining health, the game is tied.

The players may like to immediately play a reverse match, swapping teams and playing again.

Advanced Game — Weapons

Using weapons in your game is optional, and not recommended for your first few games.

When playing with weapons, each player receives 1 weapon card at the start of the game which grants a special single-use power. Before the game begins, the players can select weapon cards in 1 of 3 ways:

Random weapon: Randomly deal 1 weapon to each player.

Drafting weapons when playing with set teams: This is done by randomly drawing 3 weapons at the start of the game and placing them on the table. The start player chooses one, followed by his opponent. The third is removed from the game.

Drafting weapons when playing with drafted teams: Randomly draw 3 weapons at the start of the game and place them with the teams you are drafting from. Instead of picking a hero when making his drafting choice, a player may pick a weapon. The draft continues until both players have chosen their 5 heroes and 1 weapon.

During set-up the players place their weapon cards face-up on the table. You may like to place your weapon card in the middle of your base instead of your reference card (if you don't need it).

On any turn you may forgo your main action to use your weapon card. You can still take your regular move action first, and you still un-stun and draw power at the end of your turn. You may also use the constant powers of your heroes in play any time on the turn that you use your weapon.

Weapons have a power cost. If you cannot pay this cost, you cannot use the weapon that turn. Follow the directions on the weapon card and carry out its effects. Once used, flip your weapon card over. It cannot be used again. See the Hero Almanac for further explanation of each weapon.

Strategy Tips

Don't rush to get all your heroes into play! It often pays to wait for the perfect time to play a hero. Furthermore, some heroes are more effective if they have empty space to move in.

Manage your power cards carefully. Try and plan your next couple of turns based on the cards you have.

Don't feel you have to use a power every turn. Sometimes it pays to bide your time and draw more power.

Keep an eye on your opponent's discard pile. If certain power cards have been discarded, you will know your opponent is unable to use particular powers.

Assess which of your opponent's heroes is the biggest threat to you and attack it first. Sometimes this will be a harmless looking sidekick, who if left alone will end up proving a huge nuisance!

When drafting your team, make sure you choose heroes with a good balance of power costs.