Runebound (Third Edition): Unbreakable Bonds Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Introduction
• Incorporating This Expansion
  • Setup
  • Solo Rules
• New Concepts
  • Prepare Action
  • Enemy Tokens
  • Twists
  • Player Number
• Cooperative Rules
  • Trading
  • Envelopes
  • Parties
  • Party Skills
  • Combat Boards
  • Spending Surges
  • Agility Abilities
  • + Symbols
  • Shields
  • Moving Tokens
  • Enemy Choices
  • Combat Example
  • Civilized Hex
• Scenario Sheets
  • The Locust Swarm
  • Caught in a Web

Components

• 2 Plastic Figures
• 2 Hero Cards (double-sided): Tatianna and Elian
• 60 Adventure Cards
• 37 Combat Tokens:
  • 6 Enemy (Mystic) tokens
  • 6 Enemy (Savage) tokens
  • 6 Enemy (Trickster) tokens
  • 6 Hero tokens
  • 12 Asset tokens
  • 1 Queen Ariad token
• 4 Combat Boards (double-sided)
• 10 Party Skill Cards
• 20 Asset Cards
• 30 Skill Cards
• 10 Twist Cards
• 3 Envelope Cards
• 5 Scenario Sheets (double-sided)
• 26 Story Cards
• 4 Prepare Tokens
• 6 "5" Damage Tokens
• 6 Story Tokens (double-sided)

Introduction

Unbreakable Bonds introduces cooperative and solo play to Runebound. Now you can undertake perilous adventures by yourself or while alongside other mighty heroes. In addition to the two new scenarios, three new scenario sheets allow you to play previously released competitive scenarios as solo or cooperative experiences. Take up your swords and band together to form unbreakable bonds!

Incorporating This Expansion

Runebound can now be played cooperatively and solo. Each of these new modes has several distinct rules. For all rules specific to cooperative and solo play, use the "Cooperative Rules" starting on page 4 in conjunction with the standard rules from the base game.

Setup

Before playing your first game using Unbreakable Bonds, regardless of the type of game you are playing, complete the following steps to incorporate the expansion contents into those from the base game:

• Add the hero sheets and combat tokens to their supplies.
• Add the "Battle Pilgrim," "One with the Land," and "High Society" skill sets to the supply of skill cards. Any of these sets can be chosen as one of the six skill sets during setup.
• After creating the asset deck, shuffle the twist cards into the asset deck.
• Cooperative or solo game only: Place the combat boards and their corresponding enemy token sets within easy reach of all players.
• Cooperative game only: After creating the skill deck, shuffle the 10 party skill cards into the skill deck and place the envelope cards near the game board.

Solo Rules

When playing solo, follow all of the normal cooperative rules with two exceptions: do not shuffle the party skill cards into the skill deck and do not use the envelope cards. Additionally, when you draw an adventure, skill, or asset card that refers to another hero, discard it and draw a replacement.

New Concepts

Unbreakable Bonds introduces several new concepts that are used in competitive, cooperative, and solo games.

Prepare Action

The prepare action allows you to save an action for a future turn. When you take a prepare action, place a prepare token on your hero sheet. On a future turn, you can spend a prepare token to take 1 additional action during that turn. You may have more than 1 prepare token on your hero sheet.

Enemy Tokens

New enemy tokens increase the variety of combat encounters. Each enemy has a primary trait: Warrior, Mystic, Savage, or Trickster. You cast the corresponding set of tokens when fighting as that enemy. The enemy combat tokens that appear in the base game make up the token set for the Warrior trait. This expansion contains a six-token set for the Mystic trait (purple), the Savage trait (red), and the Trickster trait (green).

• Warrior token
• Mystic token
• Savage token
• Trickster token

Twists

Twists are a new type of asset that are shuffled into the asset deck. Whenever a twist is drawn, the player shopping in that city resolves it and then discards it before drawing a replacement asset.

• If a twist card is drawn during setup, set it aside and continue to deal asset cards to set up the markets. Once the markets are ready, shuffle all drawn twists back into the asset deck.
• If an asset is removed from a city outside of a shop action and a twist is drawn, discard the twist and draw another card from the asset deck.
• If a player draws multiple twists in a row while shopping, he or she resolves each one.

Twist card example: "Price Reduction" — "Fancy wares are coming in from afar, so it's out with the old! Attach this card to the highest-priced asset in the market. Attached asset costs 2 gold less for the rest of the game."

Player Number

Some new game effects refer to the number of players in a game, which is represented by the player number icon. When you see the player number icon in text, replace it with the number of players in your game.

Note: If a player is eliminated, the player number icon does not change.

Cooperative Rules

This section provides rules for playing a cooperative game.

Trading

During a cooperative game, bartering is prohibited. Instead, heroes may trade items of equal value, based on the gold cost of the items. This does not require an action.

• Trading can only happen between two heroes who share the same hex.
• A hero can give another hero gold to make up the cost difference between two items, or even buy an item from another player outright.
• Additionally, once per turn, you may give 1 gold, 1 skill card from your hand, 1 quest, or 1 rumor to a hero in your hex.

Envelopes

Envelopes are a way to give gold, quests, or skills to your fellow heroes when you are not sharing the same hex. Once per turn, when you are in a city or town, you can take an available envelope card, place 1 gold, 1 skill card from your hand, 1 quest, or 1 rumor onto it, and hand it to a hero of your choosing. When that hero is next in a city or town, he or she may open the envelope to receive its contents and return the envelope to the supply.

• Sending or opening an envelope does not require an action.
• You cannot send an envelope if there are no envelope cards in the supply.
• If an event card has the "Rumor" label, you can use an envelope to send that event to another hero; he or she must resolve the card as a rumor.
• A player cannot place a skill onto an envelope during a training action before discarding down to his or her hand size.

Parties

On your turn, before or after any action, you can offer to form a party with one or more heroes who are in the same hex as you. Up to four heroes can be in the same party. All heroes in a party move together. You do not have to spend any extra terrain dice to move the party; if you move, all other heroes in the party move with you.

• Any hero can leave a party between actions, no matter whose turn it is. To join (or rejoin) an existing party, you simply need to be in the same hex as the party and declare that you are joining before or after any hero's action.
• If a hero chooses to leave a 2-person party, that party is disbanded.
• If you are delayed or defeated while in a party, you are automatically removed from the party. Until you become undelayed or heal, you cannot rejoin the party.

Party Skills

Party skills allow a party of heroes to achieve more while together. Party skills are learned like regular skills. When learning a party skill, any hero in the game can pay trophies to learn it, and multiple heroes can split the total cost of a party skill among them. The hero playing the card from his or her hand is not required to contribute to paying the cost. Learned party skills should be placed in a common area next to the board.

• Learned party skills stay in play even if no heroes are currently in a party; the moment a new party is formed, the heroes in the party gain access to any previously learned party skills.
• There is no limit to the number of party skills you can have, and multiple parties (two parties of two heroes each in a 4-player game) can make use of the same party skills.

Combat Boards

Combat boards are used during cooperative and solo play to resolve the enemy tokens. Like the new combat tokens, each board corresponds to one of the four primary traits of each enemy: Warrior, Mystic, Savage, or Trickster.

Each combat round, you or another player will cast the enemy tokens that match the enemy's trait. Then you place them on that trait's combat board, matching the symbols with the corresponding spaces on the board.

Initiative is determined as normal. If there is a tie for initiative, the hero takes the first combat action.

Whenever it is the enemy's turn to take a combat action, resolve the next space on the combat board that contains a token (from top to bottom), following its instructions. Resolve all of the tokens in that space.

Note: See "Spending Surges" on page 5 for how to place tokens on and resolve the surge space.

If you are unable to resolve a symbol (such as a double having nothing to double) or the symbol would have no effect (such as an agility ability that does nothing), then skip that symbol and go to the next space instead. On your next turn, check to see if the unresolved symbol can now be resolved.

Once there are no more spaces that can be resolved, the enemy passes, and cannot perform any additional combat actions that round.

Each combat board features an ability under the board's title. This ability is always resolved when fighting that type of enemy. For example, the Mystic combat board's ability reads: "If there are any surge symbols in your pool at the end of a combat round, deal 1 skull."

Note: For a detailed look at how the combat boards are used, see the "Combat Example" sidebar on page 6.

Spending Surges

Each surge space has three sections to help you with organization. Rather than spend all of the surge symbols as one action, you should spend as many as it takes to trigger the most expensive surge ability on the enemy that has not been triggered this combat round.

Example: You cast for the enemy and get two 1 surge results. If the enemy has a 2 surge ability, then stack both tokens in the 2 section. When it came time to resolve surge abilities, both surge tokens will be spent to trigger the 2 ability.

• If the surge ability that would be triggered would have no effect (i.e., nothing changes in the game state other than the removal of the surge tokens), but there is another surge ability that has not been triggered by the enemy that would have an effect, then trigger that other surge ability instead by spending the required number of surge. If no surge abilities would have any effect, then do not spend any surge symbols; instead, resolve the tokens on the next space on the combat board. If there are no other tokens on the combat board, the enemy passes.
• If the enemy has more than one surge ability that costs the same number of surge symbols, resolve from the bottom of the card to the top. Each enemy can still only trigger each surge ability once per combat round.

Agility Abilities

There are some enemy abilities that do not require surge symbols, but instead require agility. Resolve these abilities using the agility ability text on the enemy card rather than the instructions on the agility space of the combat board.

+ Symbols

Some spaces increase the value of a symbol (+). This is only added if there are one or more tokens with that symbol being resolved, and it is added to the combined value of those tokens.

Example: The skull space on the warrior combat board has "+1 skull" listed next to it. If there are no skull tokens in the skull space, then the "+1 skull" is ignored. If there were two tokens showing 1 skull, then the enemy would deal 3 damage instead of 2.

The warrior combat board has +1 skull in the skull space.

Shields

Shield symbols are always spent at the first opportunity in response to taking damage. If an enemy casts both a tactics symbol and a shield, the tactics symbol is always spent as a shield to block damage first, and then the shield is used. (The complete rules for the tactics symbol can be found on page 7.)

Moving Tokens

If a token is recast or flipped to a different symbol, move it to the corresponding space on the board. If a token on top of a double symbol is removed, the double token returns to its original space. If a surge token is placed on top of a double symbol, move the stack to the section of the surge board that matches the new surge total.

Enemy Choices

If an enemy ever has an optional ability on it, it triggers that ability whenever possible.

Example: Orc Brigand reads "This enemy may spend 1 surge to prevent its foe from flipping a token." If the Orc Brigand ever has 1 surge when his foe attempts to flip a token, Orc Brigand spends it to prevent the flip.

Sometimes, during the resolution of an enemy ability, a choice has to be made. Make the choice in such a way as to be most detrimental to the hero, as best as you can. If you do not feel like you can be unbiased enough when making a choice, instead of choosing, deal 2 damage to your hero in place of the effect.

Example: The Relentless ability on the Undead Horde reads "Recast any spent token." It would be in your best interest to recast one of your own, of course, and you are worried that your hero will not be able to survive the combat. As such, you feel recasting the Horde's spent token that shows skull would be most detrimental to you.

Combat Example

Eliam engages in combat with a Sorcerer. The Sorcerer has the Mystic trait.

Eliam takes his combat tokens and casts them. Another player takes the mystic combat tokens and casts them for the Sorcerer.

The Sorcerer player places the enemy combat tokens on their corresponding spaces of the mystic combat board. The hero wins initiative ties, so Eliam takes the first combat action.

Combat Action #1: The text on the combat board indicates that the Sorcerer's tactics will copy Eliam's shield if Eliam uses his charge to attack directly, so he uses his Twin Blades ability to remove 2 of his charge tokens to deal 3 charge that cannot be blocked. The Sorcerer places 3 damage tokens on his enemy card.

Combat Action #2: The Sorcerer resolves the spaces of the combat board from top to bottom. He does not have any agility tokens, so he moves on to the double space. The text indicates he must double surge first, so he stacks his surge on top of the double symbol, doubling it. He then moves the stack to the 2 surge space of the combat board, as it is now worth 2 surge.

Combat Action #3: Eliam has only his shield remaining, so he must pass.

Combat Action #4: Continuing to resolve the board from top to bottom, the Sorcerer spends his stacked surge to trigger his Blast ability, which deals 3 skull. In response, Eliam spends his shield to block 1 of the skull and takes 2 damage.

Blast card: "2 surge Blast: Deal 3 skull. Your foe may spend 1 tactics to cancel this ability."

Combat Action #5: Eliam has no tokens left and passes. The Sorcerer now takes another action. The text on the tactics space of the combat board indicates that the Sorcerer must use tactics to copy his highest skull token, so he copies skull and deals 1 damage to Eliam.

Combat Action #6: The Sorcerer resolves the final space of the combat board by spending both skulls to deal 2 damage to Eliam.

The round is now over. If Eliam decides to stay in the battle, he and his foe will recast all of their tokens and begin a new round of combat, with the Sorcerer again resolving the combat board from top to bottom.

Civilized Hex

Some game effects in this expansion refer to a civilized hex. A hex is considered civilized when it contains a city, a town, a stronghold, or a shrine.

Expansion Icon

Some cards found in this expansion are marked with the Unbreakable Bonds expansion icon to distinguish these components from those found in the base game and other expansions. Cards not marked with the expansion icon are instead marked with their scenario art. Skill cards and party skill cards are marked with their own unique skill set icons.

Charge

Charge is a type of damage that appears on combat tokens. As a combat action, a combatant can spend X charge to deal X unblockable damage to his or her foe. During a combat round, after a combatant has spent charge, that combatant cannot block damage.

Tactics

Tactics is a combat symbol that can be spent to copy other symbols in play. As a combat action, a player can spend one tactics symbol from his or her combat pool as a copy of a symbol showing on any other token in any combatant's combat pool.

Additionally, when a player is about to take damage, that player can spend one tactics symbol from his or her combat pool as a copy of a symbol that would allow him or her to block or prevent that damage.

Finally, the spending of tactics symbols follows these restrictions:

• Tactics symbols cannot be spent in conjunction with other tokens. For example, a hero cannot spend a tactics symbol as a copy of a charge symbol while also spending 3 charge symbols worth of other tokens. These must be done as separate combat actions.
• Since only enemies can spend skulls and only heroes can spend charge or physical damage, a hero cannot spend tactics to copy a skull and an enemy cannot spend tactics to copy charge or physical damage.
• Since the tactics symbol is spent when it is used, it cannot be used to copy the effect of a double symbol.
• When tactics is spent to copy a symbol with a number modifying it (e.g., 2 charge), the number is also copied.

Scenario Sheets

The expansion includes five double-sided scenario sheets. The rules text printed in this rulebook covers the two sheets reproduced below. Source gap: the rules for The Red Death and the other scenario sheets are not printed in this rulebook PDF and are not reproduced here; they are on the scenario sheets themselves. The lore pages (The Red Death and The Locust Swarm story text) are flavour and are omitted.

The Locust Swarm

These tokens are Uthuk units and make warbands stronger. Players must defeat all warbands to win.

Setup: Remove all 5 warbands from the story deck and shuffle them. Place 1 random warband faceup on space I of the story track, and spawn that warband in Outlaw Glade (use the story quest token to track warbands). Then place 1 additional random warband facedown on the story track for each player. Story cards will flip these faceup later. Return all unused warbands to the game box.

Flip this sheet over, but use this side if you need to refer to the rules for moving warbands.

To Move Warbands: Starting with the warband in story space I, move each faceup warband, in order, 1 hex toward the nearest civilized hex it can target (warbands cannot target hexes with scorched earth tokens). A warband can only target certain types of hexes if it has the required number of units on it:

• 1 unit: Warband can target shrines.
• 2 units: Warband can also target towns.
• 3 units: Warband can also target strongholds.
• 4 units: Warband can also target cities.

Any time a faceup warband would move any number of hexes but does not have a hex it can target, place 1 unit on it instead.

Caught in a Web

These tokens are webs.

• Heroes may spend 1 prepare token in a hex with a web to destroy it. Webs in cities or in a hex with Queen Ariad cannot be destroyed this way.
• When a hero spends a terrain die to enter a hex adjacent to or containing a web, that die's result must be a wild result, regardless of that hex's terrain. A hero may exert once per hex to ignore this ability (for parties, each hero in the party must exert).

At the end of Act I, place 1 web in each city. Players must destroy the player number minus 1 webs in cities to spawn Queen Ariad and a web in Burrow Town (in a solo game, she immediately spawns).

Webs in cities can be removed by defeating an Avatar of Ariad; a hero in a city with a web may spend 1 prepare token to flip this sheet and engage an Avatar of Ariad in combat.

A hero in a hex with Queen Ariad may also flip this sheet to engage her in combat.

If Queen Ariad is defeated, the players win the game.

At the end of Act II, or if all heroes are eliminated from the game, the heroes lose the game.

*If you own the Caught in a Web scenario pack, you can use the "Caught in a Web" scenario sheet found in this expansion to play with that scenario in a cooperative or solo game of Runebound. If you do not own the Caught in a Web scenario pack, do not include the "Caught in a Web" scenario sheet when choosing a scenario.

Note: When playing the cooperative or solo version of the Caught in a Web scenario, replace Queen Ariad's master token with the Queen Ariad master token included in this expansion.