S.H.E.O.L.
S.H.E.O.L. Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Missions
- Campaigns
- Quick Start
- Game Component List
- Organizing the Box
- Preparing the Game
- Starting the Game
- Shadow Phase
- Additional Enemy Mechanics
- Scout Phase
- Scout Actions
- Using Lightshields
- Damage and Corruption
- Ending the Mission
- Development Phase
- Saving and Loading the Game
- Starting a Scout Mission
- Starting a Casual Mission
- Card Effects in Detail
- Movement Tables
- Icon Reference
Missions
Each mission represents a game session of about 1-3 hours and is structured as a set of successive objectives. Completing missions is the goal of the game.
Campaigns
Playing Sheol allows players to experience the story of the scouts by completing missions, arranged into the form of a campaign.
To fully experience the narrative and the gameplay dynamics of Sheol, we recommend playing the missions in sequence, though it is possible to play them in any order.
The campaign (plus the optional Scout missions) is described in the Mission Manual. The main campaign is composed of thirteen missions.
Once the main campaign is complete, you can play expansion campaigns if you have them. They have a storyline which further enhances your understanding of the events of the main campaign and the world of Sheol.
Quick Start
Sheol is a complex game with a lot of rules, but even the most complex things in the world are a sequence of little simple steps.
In this section we recommend the best steps to follow to learn the game and the rules:
- Check the components: take everything out of the box and divide things in their organizers.
- Read the intro in the mission manual: the lore in the mission manual will make you understand better the game.
- Start preparing the game. Arrange everything until you have mission 1 ready to play.
- Read the game flow, trying it directly during the first mission.
- Complete the first mission.
- Read the Advanced rules when you need them.
Game Component List
Here you will find a detailed list of all the components present in the game, divided by type.
Miniatures
The Pioneer (x1), The Maenad (x1), The Cyclops (x1), The Breathless (x1).
Boards
Citadel Board (x1), Citadel Plateau (x2), Main Boards (x6), Scout Boards (x4), Shadow Board (x1).
Large Cards
Scout Cards (x4), Land Cards (x15), Exploration Cards (x30), Citadel Exploration Cards (x12), Shadows Cards (x3), Heralds Cards (x4), Outer Lords Cards (x3), Servodroids Core Cards (x10), Rule Cards (x12).
Standard Cards
Scout Lightshield Cards (x56), Servodroid Lightshield Cards (x40), Advanced Lightshield Cards (x27), Status Cards (x48), Weapon Cards (x22), Lantern Cards (x22), Accessory Cards (x18), Outer Lord Action Cards (x15), Outer Lord Reaction Cards (x12), Point of Interest Cards (x40), Mission Cards (x152).
Small Cards
Printer Cards (x30), Reward Cards (x15), Technologies Cards (x18), Malfunctions Cards (x6), Threat Cards (x19), Herald Reactions Cards (x14), Herald Reborn Cards (x8), Enemy Mechanics Cards (x6).
Tiles and Tokens
Lightstream Tiles (x57), Land Tiles (x15), Alpha/Omega Tokens (x4), Reward Tokens (x3), Facility Tiles (x6), Point of Interests (x4), Abandoned small/big Umbra Tokens (x5), Abandoned small/big Lux Tokens (x5), Lux Trench Tiles (x6), Dark Conglomerate Tiles (x8), Rift/Peak Tiles (x6), Umbra Extractor/Lux Synthesizer Tokens (x8), Immolates' Barrier/Monorail Tokens (x7), CLEU Cannon Tokens (x10), Scout Tower Tokens (x5), Umbra Tokens (x27), Starter Tokens (x8), District Tokens (x8), Coralbone Tokens (x23), Star Tokens (x6), X Tokens (x6), Circular Singularity Tokens (x8), Triangular Singularity Tokens (x8), Square Singularity Tokens (x6), Lurker Tokens (x15), Devourer Tokens (x15), Moth Tokens (x15), Death Token (x1), Threat Tokens (x6), Shadow Number Tokens (x40), Vial Number Tokens (x12), Colored Tokens (x4).
Standees
Servodroids (x3), The Hunter (x1), The Awakener (x1), The Marauder (x1), The Mindblower (x1), Avadon (x1), G'hinnom (x1), Shibaron (x1).
Paper Components
Rulebook (x1), Mission Manual (x1).
Dice and Plastic Components
Darkness level die (x4), Fate Dice (x3), Alert Die (x1), Scout Die (x2), Gravity Die (x1), Shadow Die (x2), Danger Die (x1), Blue Scout die (x2), Blue Cubes (x70), Red Cubes (x60), Purple Cubes (x30), Black Markers (x25), Standee Holders (x10), Colored Disks (x4).
Organizing the Box
Essential Iconography
Sheol is full of icons and Symbols. On the last page of the rulebook there is a table that summarizes them all.
You will learn them step by step reading this rulebook. For now, the ones you need to divide things are factions and levels.
Factions: Luminary Faction, Engineers Faction, Exiled Faction.
Levels: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3.
Preparing the Game
If you already divided the game components in their organizers and you read the mission manual intro, it's time to prepare your first mission and start the campaign.
To do so, you have to follow some steps:
- Choose your scouts and prepare the scout boards.
- Choose your servodroids (only if you are playing with less than 4 players) and prepare the servodroid boards.
- Prepare the general components.
- Choose your mission and prepare the mission components.
In the following sections, you will learn how to prepare each of these components step-by-step.
Choose Your Scouts
Each player must now choose a scout. If you are playing with less than 4 people, choose 1 scout per player and then you will choose Servodroids.
All scouts have unique abilities, weapons, and actions that differentiate them from each other. Participating players will normally use the same scout for all the campaign, although it is perfectly acceptable to change scouts between missions.
The Pioneer is the highest-ranking scout and a born team leader. A veteran, he specializes in building the Lightstream, and in terms of skills, he is an all-rounder.
- Lightshield Deck: Trailblazer of the Unknown (x3), Sight Adjustment (x3), Lightstream Reposition (x2), Demolition (x2), Luminous Convergence (x2), Impact Detection (x1)
- Archetypes: Brightness and Defense
- Starting Weapon: Flash Gun
- Starting Lantern: Night Digger
- Difficulty: Easy
The Maenad is a fast and sharp scout. A master of movement, she is ideal for quick raids in the Lands of the Night and for striking at the hearts of her enemies.
- Lightshield Deck: Dancer in the Dark (x3), Lightstream Surfer (x3), Fearless Leap (x2), Weapons Specialist (x2), Safe Trails (x2), Maenad's Ecstasy (x1)
- Archetypes: Melee and Dexterity
- Starting Weapon: Light Spear
- Starting Lantern: Hand Torch
- Difficulty: Easy
The Cyclops is a heavy-duty scout, the perfect role for those who want to force their way through the Shadows with cannon shots. The Cyclops is ideal for missions on the front line and can defend and protect his peers when needed.
- Lightshield Deck: Brothers in Arms (x3), Survival of the Fittest (x3), Attractive Field (x2), Leatherback (x2), Safeguard (x2), Charged Lux Emitter (x1)
- Archetypes: Luxarms and Defense
- Starting Weapon: Impulse Cannon
- Starting Lantern: Gun Torch
- Difficulty: Easy
The Breathless is a sniper and at her best with ranged attacks. Great at camouflage, she can blend into her surroundings and kill enemies without them even noticing her.
- Lightshield Deck: Holding Breath (x3), Camouflage (x3), Relocating Techniques (x2), Eye of the Eagle (x2), Target Acquisition (x2), Oblivion Marksman (x1)
- Archetypes: Camouflage and Luxarms
- Starting Weapon: Beam Rifle
- Starting Lantern: Flare Launcher
- Difficulty: Medium
Arrange the Scout Board
Now you have to prepare your Scout Board that is composed by several components.
Lux Board. The Lux board is the center of your Scout Board. It specifies the amount of Lux available to the scout, their action points, and their movement points.
Place 10 blue cubes on the Lux board as follows:
- The first on the number 0 of the Action track.
- The second on the number 0 of the Movement track.
- The others on all the numbers of the Lux track.
Scout Card. Place the Scout card below the Lux board. Each Scout card contains some info about the scout (see section: The Scout Card in Detail). Then, place a numbered token on the left space of the Lux board, so it matches the number written below the vial symbol at the top of the Scout card.
Weapon and Lantern Cards. Each scout (and servodroid) is equipped with a weapon and a lantern (and later with an accessory).
For each scout, find their starting Weapon card and Lantern card. Scouts always start a mission with these cards on the unbroken side unless otherwise indicated.
You can distinguish these cards because they have the scout icon instead of the faction symbol on their back. For reference, you can find the name of the starting weapon and lantern of each scout in the section: Choose Your Scouts. Place them on each side of the Scout card.
Lightshield Cards. Each scout has a Lightshield deck containing a series of unique actions, and each starts with 13 cards. Take the Lightshield deck for each selected scout, shuffle it, and place it face down next to the corresponding Scout card.
You can distinguish these cards because they have the scout icon instead of the archetype symbol on their front.
Once a lightshield card is used it goes to the discard pile. For more detailed information on Lightshield cards see section: Using Lightshields.
Scout Miniature. Place your scout miniature close to your board. Every time the scout miniature is close to your board, it represents that the scout is at the Citadel.
NOTE: If you want, you can place the colored disks that are not in use by Servodroids under your scout miniatures to better highlight them during gameplay.
Choose your Servodroids
If you are playing with less than 4 scouts, you have to choose 1 Servodroid for each missing scout. So, for example, if you are playing with 2 scouts, you have to choose 2 servodroids. Servodroids have different cores that change their abilities. Also, they don't have a lightshield deck, but they add cards to the decks of the scouts. They also have a single lux vial, but they regenerate Lux each turn.
A starting droid focused on movement.
- Lightshield to add: Thruster activation (x2), Robotic acrobatics (x2)
- Archetypes: Dexterity and Camouflage
- Starting Weapon: Servogun
- Starting Lantern: Servolantern
- Difficulty: Easy
A starting droid with regen.
- Lightshield to add: Purification conveyor (x2), Fixing drone (x2)
- Archetypes: Care and Mechanics
- Starting Weapon: Servogun
- Starting Lantern: Servolantern
- Difficulty: Easy
A balanced droid with average Lux and movement. This Droid can't use accessories.
- Lightshield to add: Glacial systems (x2), Grid connection (x2)
- Archetypes: Brightness and Melee
- Starting Weapon: Servogun
- Starting Lantern: Servolantern
- Difficulty: Easy
Arrange the Servodroid Board
Now you have to prepare your Servodroid Board that is composed by several components. The process is similar to what you already did for scouts.
Lightshield Cards. Each Servodroid doesn't have a Lightshield deck, but it adds some cards to the lightshield decks of scouts.
To do that:
- Take 2 Deep Scanner cards and 2 Mechanical Legs cards. They are always used when there are servodroids.
- Take the lightshield cards specified on the back of each Core card. There are 4 cards for each servodroid.
- Shuffle all the taken cards and divide them evenly (if possible) among all scouts. They add them to their lightshield decks.
Core Card. Place the Scout card below the Lux board. Each Core card contains some info about the servodroid (see section: The Core Card in Detail).
Lux Board. The Lux board is the center of your Scout Board. It specifies the amount of Lux available to the Servodroid, their action points, and their movement points.
Place a number of blue cubes and violet cubes on the Lux board as follows:
- One blue cube on the number 0 of the Action track.
- One blue cube on the number 0 of the Movement track.
- A number of blue cubes on the Lux track that matches the number on the top of the Core card you have chosen.
- A number of violet cubes to fill the rest of the Lux track.
- Finally, place a token with number one on the correct space of the board.
Weapon and Lantern Cards. Each servodroid is equipped with a weapon and a lantern (and later with an accessory).
For each servodroid, equip a Servogun as weapon and a Servolantern as lantern. Place them on each side of the Servodroid card.
Servodroid Standee. Take a Servodroid standee, and choose a color among the ones of the plastic bases. Combine the colored plastic base with the Servodroid one and take a colored token of the same color. Place them close to your board.
Every time the servodroid miniature is close to your board, it represents that the servodroid is at the Citadel.
Additional Bonuses. If you play with 2 or 3 servodroids, you will have some additional bonuses to help your scout during their journey.
Play with 2 servodroids bonus
- Hand limit increase by 1: This number is added to the max number of Lightshield cards that players can keep in their hand and can therefore recharge each turn.
- Outer Lords' health is reduced by 1: The number of Health markers that have to be placed for each stage of the Outer Lord is reduced by 1.
Play with 3 servodroids bonus (playing solo)
- Hand limit increase by 1: This number is added to the max number of Lightshield cards that players can keep in their hand and can therefore recharge each turn.
- Outer Lords' health is reduced by 2: The number of Health markers that have to be placed for each stage of the Outer Lord is reduced by 2.
- Additional Lux Vial: Your scout vial maximum is permanently increased by 1. You start the first mission with that vial full.
Prepare the General Components
To prepare the game, arrange the general components. Place the following on the table:
The Citadel Plateau. Place the Citadel plateau (the square one) at the center of the table. Later it will go over the main board.
If you have the Citadel miniature, place the base level over the square plateau, then place the round plateau inside.
Take 10 blue cubes and put them in the holes of the Citadel plateau. These are the Prosperity points of the Citadel. If these fall to zero, it's game over.
The Citadel Board and District Tokens. Place the Citadel board on the left of the table. Place on each technology space a District token, for a total of 9.
The Reward Deck. Take all 15 reward cards (they are small cards with a treasure icon on the back) and create a deck. Shuffle it and place it over the respective space on the Citadel board.
The Printer Deck. Take all level 1 printer items cards and create a deck. You can recognize these cards from the icon below the front of the card. Shuffle the deck and place it over the respective space on the Citadel board.
The Status Deck. Take all the status cards (negative, heavy negative and positive) and make a deck. Place it near the Citadel board.
The Exploration Deck. The Exploration deck is composed of large cards with a flag in the top left (don't confuse them with the Citadel Exploration cards). Place the deck near the Citadel board.
The Land Deck. The Land deck is composed of large cards with large images. It contains the Land cards. These cards are used when a land is discovered. Place the deck near the Exploration deck.
The Lightstream Display. Take the lightstream dispenser and put it near the Citadel board. Randomly draw 5 Lightstream tiles and place them in their spaces near the board with the bright (blue) side up.
The Shadow Board. Place the Shadow board on the right of the table.
The Dice. Sheol has several dice that are used during the game. Place them anywhere on the table.
Some Colored Cubes and Disks. Place some red, blue and purple cubes on the table. Place also some black disks. They are used as markers during the game.
Umbra and Coralbone Reserve. Place some coralbone obstacle tokens on the table. Place some Umbra tokens on the table. Umbra is the currency of the game.
Arrange the Mission Components
In this section, you will learn how to read the Mission Manual and set up the mission components.
The Mission Manual. The Mission Manual is your main point of reference for mission setup, as well as where you will find much of the story of Sheol. The Mission Manual is divided into:
Intro:
- The prologue: you should read this before starting the main campaign.
- The scouts: here you will learn about Team Nova and their stories.
- The glossary: some basic concepts integral to understanding the world of Sheol. In the rest of the Manual, there are several info boxes that explain many other lore-related themes in depth.
- The prologue: originally released in a digital format, this story is optional reading that introduces the main campaign.
Missions:
- The main campaign: this is where you will start playing the game.
- The optional Scout missions.
- Development phase section. Here you will find the data to develop your scouts.
- The save and statistics section: use this section to save the game.
The Mission Pages. Each mission presents you with:
- The mission number.
- The mission title.
- The intro story for the mission and below an info box giving further insight into the world of Sheol.
- The quick reference for the mission goals.
- The mission level.
- The layout of the components on the main board.
- The land codes for that mission.
- The list of components required for mission setup.
- The enemies table, showing the enemies that will appear during the mission and their health, damage and armor values (as applicable).
- Additional enemy mechanics.
- The difficulty table.
- Special rules that only apply to that mission.
Setup a Mission. Before starting a mission:
- Read the intro story and the quick reference box.
- Prepare the Enemy board according to the table and the additional mechanics.
- Prepare the Shadow pile.
- Arrange the components from the list on the correct coordinates of the main board according to the layout.
- Apply the mission difficulty effects.
- Read the special rules/notes.
- Place the Point of Interest deck according to the mission level near the main board.
- Place the Mission deck according to the mission number near the main board.
1 - Read the Story. In Sheol, the story is very important, but if you don't have much time you can skip to the quick reference box that summarizes the mission objectives. The Mission cards used during missions supplement the story in the Mission Manual.
2 - Prepare the Enemy Board.
- You should have already placed the shadow board next to the main board during the general setup phase. It and all the enemy cards that surround it form the Enemy board.
- Put a black marker on the number 0 of the Threat track. This track indicates the turn number during the game.
- Place the Shadow cards according to the mission's enemies table. If in the table some shadows types are marked as random, shuffle all your Shadow cards, draw and place in the space the correct number of Shadow cards.
Then, if this is not your first time playing Sheol:
- If any Heralds are present, place their cards in their space and proceed with the Heralds setup (see section: Heralds).
- If an Outer Lord is present, place its card in its space and proceed with the Outer Lord setup (see section: Outer Lord).
- If any additional enemy mechanics are unlocked, place their corresponding cards in their space and follow their setup (see section: Additional enemy mechanics).
3 - Prepare the Shadow Pile. Before placing shadows and other components on the main board, you have to prepare the Shadow pile.
Check the table in the Mission Manual and create a pile with the required number of blip tokens of each type listed. Shuffle the pile.
4 - Arrange the Components. It's time to arrange the mission components of the main board.
4.1 - The Main Board. The first mission based component is the main board itself. Place the correct blocks to create the base according to the layout pictured in the Mission Manual. Place the Citadel plateau on it.
Now take each component from the box and put them on the coordinates of the main board according to the layout pictured in the Mission Manual. You can find all the components you need in the mission components list on the right side of the mission intro pages.
The following sections detail all the components you may need when you carry out a mission setup.
4.2 - Lands. There are three types of land and corresponding Land card. In increasing order of danger these are: the Twilight Lands, the Forgotten Lands, and the Shadow Lands. Each land is defined by a code on the front that corresponds to one Land card and two Exploration cards.
On the top right of the mission page, you will find the codes of the lands you must use during the mission (connected to a green mark) and the lands you can't use (connected to a red mark). Take the Land decks and set aside all of the lands you can't use that mission. Next, take the lands which you must use for that mission. If the setup requires more lands than the specific tiles shown, draw the additional lands at random from the remaining lands.
Example: In Mission 2, you need a total of six lands: two Twilight Lands, three Forgotten Lands, and one Shadow Land. Two specific Twilight Lands are required (TD and TE). This is equal to the total number of Twilight Lands required for the mission setup, so you do not need to draw any random Twilight Land tiles. You still need to set aside the TC Twilight Land tile. Even if effects might add a new Twilight Land to the map, it should not be the TC tile since this is an excluded land tile for this mission.
Next, one specific Forgotten Land is required (FA). We still need two more Forgotten Land tiles. Set aside the excluded Forgotten Land tile (FE) and then randomly draw two more Forgotten Land tiles. Finally, we need one Shadow Land tile. Since there are no required Shadow Land tiles, set aside the excluded Shadow Land tiles (SF and SG). Randomly draw one Shadow Land tile. You now have all of the land tiles that you need for this mission setup!
4.3 - Point of Interest/Reward/Lux/Umbra Tiles. These tiles trigger some effects when scouts go over them (see respective sections): the Point of Interest Tile, the Reward Tile, the Lux Deposit Tile, and the Umbra Deposit Tile.
4.4 - Facilities. Scouts can build different types of facilities on discovered lands to help them during their journey (see section: Land Action: Build).
4.5 - Coralbone Tokens. Coralbone tokens are the most simple obstacles in the game (see section: Obstacles).
4.6 - Obstacles. Obstacles tiles will hinder the movement of scouts and/or shadows (See section: Obstacles). The obstacle types are: Lux Trench, Dark Conglomerate, Rift, and Peak.
4.7 - Lightstream Tiles. It is easiest for the scouts to move through the light path formed by connected Lightstream tiles (see section: Scout Movement). The tiles have a blue (bright) side and a red (dim) side.
4.8 - Singularities. Singularities are spawn points for blips. Place them with the alert (white) side face up and point the arrow toward the space closest to the Citadel unless otherwise indicated. The singularity types are: Circular, Triangular, and Square.
4.9 - Blips. Blips represent unrevealed shadows. The health and damage values for blips are defined on the Shadow board. Draw them randomly from the blip pile and place them on the main board.
4.10 - Revealed Shadows. Once a blip is revealed, it is flipped and it turns into a revealed shadow. Place them drawing them from the blip pile.
5 - Apply the Mission Difficulty Effects. When you start a mission, you must apply difficulty effects based on the difficulty level you chose during the campaign.
5.1 - Difficulty Levels in Sheol. There are three difficulty levels you can play in Sheol:
- Citizen, which corresponds to easy.
- Scout, which corresponds to medium.
- Veteran, which corresponds to hard.
If this is your first mission, you should choose the difficulty level you want to use for the entire campaign, but you can change the difficulty level at any mission.
A different difficulty level results in different effects (and sometimes setup) at the start of the mission, and different rewards at the end of the mission. Furthermore, if you play in Scout mode (which is recommended) or Veteran, and you have more than four scouts, then any scout death is permanent.
Difficulty also states the maximum number of turns for each mission.
6 - Read the Special Rules/Notes. In most missions, there are special rules that make you perform additional steps during setup or otherwise modify the game for that mission.
7 - Place the Point of Interest Deck. Take the Point of Interest cards. You can recognize them because they are similar to the mission cards, but with an eye on the back. Select the ones with the level that corresponds to the mission level and make a deck. Shuffle the deck and place it near the main board.
8 - Place the Mission Cards. If this is the first time you are playing, take the Mission deck marked as Mission 1 and place it near the main board. Otherwise, take the Mission deck marked with the number of the mission you are playing. You will find the mission number and the mission level at the top of each page of the Mission Manual.
Start! When you are ready, reveal the first card of the mission deck (with the letter A) and apply the effect (if any).
Starting the Game
Now that you have prepared the game, it's time to learn how the game flows.
Goal of the Game
Each game of Sheol represents one mission, and the main goals of the players are:
- Make the Citadel survive Sheol's onslaught. If the Prosperity points of the Citadel ever fall to zero, all is lost.
- Complete the mission cards objectives.
They should strive to complete these objectives as fast as they can, because, as time passes, the shadows grow more and more dangerous, overwhelming and inevitable.
Mission Decks and Cards
In Sheol, each mission has a dedicated Mission deck. When you start a mission, reveal the first card of the respective deck (with the letter A). This card will remain in play and will indicate the goal scouts need to complete in order to proceed with the mission.
Each Mission card is divided into:
- The campaign name.
- The mission number, common to all cards of that Mission deck.
- The mission letter, or "step".
- The flavor text that describes your situation.
- The effect that must be applied immediately after the card is drawn.
- The objective or goal that you have to accomplish to proceed with the mission.
- The effect to resolve immediately after the goal of the card is accomplished.
The icon for reveal means reveal. Instead, the icon for discard means discard the Mission card.
If you find the keyword "Victory," then you have won the mission! Proceed by reading the mission conclusion in the Mission Manual.
Flow of Play
Each Sheol game session is divided into turns, with the turns subdivided into phases. There are two phases:
- Shadow phase: Where the enemies act.
- Scout phase: Where the players act.
The phases continue alternating with each other unless special conditions specify otherwise.
Shadow Phase
Every turn starts with a Shadow phase. During this stage, enemies move, attack, spawn and generally make it difficult for scouts to survive. The Shadow phase is split into 6 sub-phases. In particular:
- Increase Menace
- Reveal Threats
- Outer Lord Actions
- Herald Actions
- Shadow Actions
- Generate Shadows
Sub-phase 1: Increase Menace
It is the enemies' turn. The effects triggered by the keyword "Start of the Shadow Phase" take place at this point, along with any other universal start-of-phase effects specified by the mission (e.g., spawn of a special shadow in a specific area, boss effects, and so on).
Advance the black marker one space on the Threat track. This indicates the turn number. If the black marker would exceed the Death token, the mission is lost.
Sub-phase 2: Reveal Threats
IMPORTANT: if this is your first time playing Sheol, you should skip this section.
This sub-phase happens only if the Threat Enemy mechanics is active. If the black marker of the Threat track is over a Threat token, then draw a new Threat card from the Threat deck and apply its effect.
If a threat has a passive effect, it lasts for all the turn. In that case keep the card visible on the top of the deck.
If the Threat Enemy mechanics is on the B-side, draw instead 2 cards and apply them in sequence.
Sub-phase 3: Outer Lord Actions
IMPORTANT: if this is your first time playing Sheol, you should skip this section.
The Outer Lords are Sheol's most fearsome enemies. Each Outer Lord has a card with their normal state on one side and their Berserk state on the other. An Outer Lord always enters the field in the normal state unless otherwise indicated. The Outer Lords are: Avadon, G'hinnom, and Shibaron.
The Outer Lord board shows:
- The Outer Lord's name.
- The Outer Lord's unique icon.
- The Darkness level.
- The critical effect: Applied when the Outer Lord does a critical hit.
- The number of health points for each stage: Each time an Outer Lord receives damage, put a red cube (Health marker) on the Outer Lord card for each damage dealt.
- The number of stages of the Outer Lord: represented by Action cards.
- The Retaliation track.
Outer Lord Setup. To set up an Outer Lord:
- Place the respective card (see section: Prepare the Enemy Boards).
- Take the Outer Lord Action deck, remove the Berserk card (the gold one) and put it aside, then shuffle the deck and place it near the right side of the enemy board.
- Prepare the Outer Lord Reaction deck by taking the Reaction cards specified in the Special Rules/Notes section of the Mission Manual. Place it near the right side of the enemy board.
- Take a Darkness level die and place it with the highest value (six) on the Darkness level space of the card.
- Place a black marker on the first space (the one below) of the Retaliation track.
- Place the Outer Lord miniature or standee over the card.
Outer Lord Actions. Outer Lords have a unique AI and behavior system. It is determined by Action cards and Reaction cards.
The Outer Lord acts before any other enemy. At the beginning of the Outer Lord sub-phase put the active Outer Lord Action card (if present) at the bottom of the Outer Lord Action deck and draw a new one.
Action cards indicate:
- The action name.
- The movement points and target: the number of spaces the Outer Lord moves toward the current target, which could be an axis (roll the Gravity die) or the Citadel. The Outer Lord miniature occupies an area of 2x2 spaces.
- The damage value: this is the damage dealt to the scouts when the Outer Lord attacks.
- The hit pattern: the Outer Lord is the central dot, and the highlighted spaces are the spaces hit during the Outer Lord's attack.
- The effect: applied immediately after the movement ends or when indicated by the card.
- The armor value: for each armor point, the Outer Lord receives 1 less point of damage during every attack made against it. If the damage is reduced to zero or less, it is reduced to 1 instead. This value remains in effect until a new Action card is revealed.
After the card is revealed, the Outer Lord follows this sequence of actions:
- Attack: Check to see if at least one scout is within the hit pattern. Remember to rotate the Outer Lord in all four directions (see next section). If so, the Outer Lord will attack all targets within the pattern.
- Move: Move the Outer Lord towards its target. Roll a Gravity die if the target is an axis. Movement is only allowed between the spaces which are orthogonally adjacent, never diagonally. If you get a double movement (a plus) on the Gravity die, ignore it and only consider the axis.
- Attack: If the Outer Lord hasn't attacked yet, and there is at least one scout within the hit pattern then the Outer Lord will attack all targets within the pattern.
- Effect: Apply the effect of the card, if present.
Outer Lord Facing. In Sheol, enemies have no preferred orientation. If an Outer Lord attacks with an asymmetrical hit pattern, you have to rotate it in all four directions to see how it attacks. The Outer Lord will choose to attack in the direction where the highest number of scouts are within the hit pattern.
If there is a tie, it will attack in the direction which includes the scout with the most Lux. Corrupted scouts always count as having less Lux than another scout who has not been corrupted. If there is still a tie, it will attack in the direction which includes the scout with the most Umbra. If both Lux and Umbra are equal, the players may choose the target.
Example: It's the Outer Lord sub-phase and the Action card "Ground Fist" is revealed. First, check if there are scouts in the Outer Lord hit pattern. Since there is no preferred orientation of the enemy, just turn it in all four directions to see if its hit pattern includes any scouts in one or more facings. There are no scouts in range, so it moves. As defined on the Action card, the Outer Lord must move 1 space towards an axis. Roll the Gravity die to determine which one: in this case the result is Alpha, so it moves 1 towards Alpha. During the movement, the Outer Lord encounters a Lurker, which is pushed by 1 space. Once the movement is concluded, the Outer Lord attacks. Check each facing again to see if there is a scout in the hit pattern. This time the Pioneer is in the hit pattern, so you have to roll a Shadow die to see if he is hit. "Ground Fist" has no effects.
Outer Lord Attack. The Outer Lords attack in the same way as shadows, by rolling the Shadow die (see section: Shadow Attack).
All Outer Lord attacks are Area of Effect attacks (AoE), so you have to roll the Shadow die for each scout in the hit pattern.
If, during an Outer Lord attack action, the Citadel is in the Outer Lord attack pattern, it does not suffer any damage.
The Citadel is not an obstacle for Outer Lords AoE attacks.
Outer Lord Movement. An Outer Lord that moves over a Lightstream tile destroys it without its movements being hindered.
If an Outer Lord moves onto a space occupied by a figure like a shadow (including blips), a singularity, a Herald or a scout, it pushes it as it moves, along with any number of figures in the line. A scout or enemy that is pushed onto an obstacle which normally blocks their movement is placed in the closest free space nearest to its target instead and, in cases of indecision, toward the Citadel (see section: Obstacles).
If an Outer Lord moves onto any number of coralbone obstacles, it destroys them without hindering its movement.
Outer Lords ignore the effects of other obstacles (Lux Trenches, Dark Conglomerates, and Rifts). Treat spaces with these obstacles as if they were normal spaces.
If an Outer Lord moves onto the Citadel, the mission is lost.
Outer Lord Darkness Level. When an Outer Lord enters the field, its Darkness level is 6. Place the Darkness level die on the respective space of the Herald card.
An Outer Lord darkness level cannot exceed 6, unless otherwise specified.
When you perform a Reveal action on an Outer Lord, its darkness level is decreased by 2 for each space of the Outer Lord in your Reveal pattern. The minimum Darkness level is 0 while the Outer Lord is in normal state, and 1 while it is in berserk state. Use the Darkness level die to keep track of it.
Outer Lord Reactions. Every time an Outer Lord is hit, it performs a reaction, revealing the first card of the Reaction deck and applying the effects on the card.
These are divided by Darkness level. Generally, the less dark the Outer Lord is, the stronger the effect.
Reaction cards indicate:
- The reaction name.
- The effect if the Outer Lord has a Darkness level of 0 or 1.
- The effect if the Outer Lord has a Darkness level of 2 or 3.
- The effect if the Outer Lord has a Darkness level above or equal to 4.
- The Darkness level decrease.
- The increase of the Retaliation track.
- The effect.
- The Darkness level increase.
Each time you reveal a Reaction card, check the Outer Lord's Darkness level and apply the relevant effect. Then increase the Outer Lord's Darkness level and raise the value of the Retaliation track. In this way, every time an Outer Lord is hit, it is likely that its Darkness level will increase.
The Retaliation track only has an effect when the marker reaches the end of the track (the space with the attack icon). When this happens, the Outer Lord will immediately perform an additional attack using the active Action card.
Once the card is resolved, shuffle it back into the Reaction deck.
Extra attacks caused by retaliation and reactions happen during the Scout phase and are triggered immediately, which could change the player's strategy considerably.
If the black marker is already on the last space (the one with the attack icon) of the retaliation track, and you have to move it 1 space, move it on the first space.
Outer Lord Stages. The Outer Lords have a number of health bars equal to their number of Action cards. If the Outer Lord suffers damage equal to or greater than its health points, discard the current Outer Lord Action card and remove Health markers equal to its health points (thus carrying over any excess damage). The Outer Lord passes to the next stage, which will trigger some Mission card effects. Once the Mission card is resolved, reveal a new Outer Lord Action card. The Outer Lord attacks all this time only if the Retaliation track is full.
When the last Action card is discarded, the Outer Lord goes into a Berserk state and its card is flipped. The Outer Lord Berserk state side of the card is similar to the normal one, but the stats are different and the minimum Darkness level is 1.
While the Outer Lord is in the Berserk state, the only action it can perform is the Berserk action.
When an Outer Lord is in the Berserk state and the number of Health markers on its board is equal to or greater than its health value, the Outer Lord is defeated! Remove it from the game.
Outer Lord as Spawn Point. It is possible for an Outer Lord to spawn shadows or coralbone obstacles. If no other directions are given, roll the Gravity die and spawn these objects to the sides of the Outer Lord in the direction of the given axis, starting from the space nearest to the Citadel. Objects cannot be spawned in spaces diagonal to the Outer Lord. For example, if you have to spawn 4 shadows, these will occupy both the sides of the Outer Lord on the given axis. If you have to spawn more than 4 objects, use the sides of the Outer Lord on the opposite axis. Outer Lords can never spawn more than 8 objects.
Sub-phase 4: Herald Actions
IMPORTANT: if this is your first time playing Sheol, you should skip this section.
The Heralds are Sheol's elite enemies. During their movement phase, they are not drawn to the gravitational axes like the shadows are. Instead, a Herald will always target a specific scout, hunting them down in single-minded pursuit. Each Herald has unique and lethal abilities. The Heralds are: Hunter, Awakener, Mindblower, and Marauder.
The Herald card shows:
- The Herald's name.
- The Herald's unique icon.
- The Darkness level.
- The health points: each time a Herald receives damage, put a red cube (Health marker) on the Herald card for each damage dealt (purple cubes count as 5).
- The armor value: for each armor point, the Herald receives 1 less point of damage during every attack made against it. If the damage is reduced to zero or less, it is reduced to 1 instead.
- The damage value: this is the damage dealt to the scouts when the Herald attacks.
- The hit pattern: the Herald is the central dot, and the highlighted spaces are the spaces hit during the Herald's attack. All Herald attacks are AoE.
- The critical effect: applied when the Herald does a critical hit.
- The target: Heralds always focus on their target (see section: Herald Actions).
- The movement points: the number of spaces the Herald moves.
- The trait: an ongoing effect applied as stated.
- The Retaliation track.
- The Initiative number.
Herald Setup. To set up a Herald:
- Place the respective card (see section: Prepare the Enemy Boards).
- Take the Reborn deck, shuffle it and place it in the space over the shadow board.
- Prepare the Herald's Reaction deck with the "Any Herald" cards and the 2 cards specific to the Herald. If there are two or more Heralds, add the additional cards specific to each Herald. Shuffle the deck and place it in the space over the shadow board.
- Take a Darkness level die and place it with the highest white value (four) on the Darkness level space of the card.
- Place a black marker on the first space (the one below) of the Retaliation track.
- Place the Herald miniature or standee over the card.
Herald Actions. The Herald acts after any Outer Lords, but before any other enemy. At the beginning of the Herald sub-phase, the Herald follows this sequence of actions, starting with the Herald with the highest initiative and continuing:
- Attack: Check to see if at least one scout is within the hit pattern (remember to rotate the Herald in all four directions). If so, the Herald will attack all targets within the pattern.
- Move: Move the Herald towards its target. If it reaches the target, it will stop, even if it has movement points remaining. Movement is only allowed between the spaces which are orthogonally adjacent, never diagonally.
- Attack: If the Herald hasn't attacked yet, and there is at least one scout within the hit pattern, then the Herald will attack all targets within the pattern.
- Trait: Unless otherwise indicated, apply the trait of the Herald.
Herald Facing. Heralds use the same facing rules as the Outer Lords (see section: Outer Lord Facing).
Herald Attack. The Heralds attack in the same way as shadows, by rolling the Shadow die (see section: Shadow Attack).
All Herald attacks are Area of Effect attacks (AoE), so you have to roll the Shadow die for each scout in the hit pattern.
If the scout targeted by the Herald is in the Citadel, it attacks the Citadel directly, causing a loss of 2 Prosperity points.
If, during a Herald attack action, the Citadel is in the Herald attack pattern, it does not suffer any damage.
It could happen that in some cases the Citadel is in between some large Herald attacks. In these cases the Citadel is an obstacle for Herald attacks. So the targets behind it do not suffer any damage.
When a Herald is in the Reborn state and the number of Health markers on its board is equal to or greater than its health value, the Herald is defeated. Remove it from the game and reward the scouts with 5 Umbra.
Herald as Spawn Point. It is possible for a Herald to spawn shadows or coralbone obstacles. If no other directions are given, roll the Gravity die and spawn these objects on the spaces surrounding the Herald in the direction of the given axis, starting from the space nearest to the Citadel. Unlike Outer Lords, objects can be spawned in spaces diagonal to the Herald.
Example: The Pioneer attacks the Hunter and successfully hits it, dealing 2 damage. Place 2 Health markers on the Hunter board, then, because the Hunter has not been killed, draw a Reaction card from the Reaction deck. The Reaction drawn is "Vacuum." Apply the effect and move the Pioneer 1 space closer to the Hunter. Then, subtract 2 from the Illumination track of the Herald: the value falls to 2. Move the Retaliation marker 2 spaces on the Retaliation track. The Retaliation marker has reached the attack space, so the Hunter performs an additional attack. After the attack has been performed, place the Retaliation marker on the first space of the track and shuffle the Reaction card back into the deck.
Herald Movement. A Herald will enter the Lightstream path if it attempts to move into a space containing a Lightstream tile, regardless of which side of the tile is facing it. The Herald is placed over the tile, damaging the Lightstream. If a bright (blue) Lightstream tile is damaged, it is flipped to the dim (red) side, and if a dim tile is damaged, then it is destroyed.
If a Herald encounters a shadow (including blips), a coralbone obstacle, a Herald, or an Outer Lord, it moves by jumping over the object(s) without spending additional movement points, to the nearest free space in the direction of the movement.
When a Herald has to move toward a Dark Conglomerate, it can go over it as if it were composed of normal spaces.
When a Herald has to move towards a facility, it can go over it and the facility is deactivated until the Herald leaves it.
When a Herald has to move toward a Lux Trench or a Rift, it instead tries to get around it (unless it flies) by following the shortest path to its target. This also applies to the Citadel or a Peak obstacle if it blocks the path to the target (remember it attacks the Citadel directly, causing a loss of 2 Prosperity points if the target is inside the Citadel), but the Herald cannot go over it even if it flies.
Herald Darkness Level. When a Herald enters the field, its Darkness level is 4. Place the Darkness level die on the respective space of the Herald card.
A Herald darkness level cannot exceed 4, unless otherwise specified. Every time a Herald is revealed by a Reveal action, its darkness level is decreased by 4. The minimum Darkness level is 0. Use the Darkness level die to keep track of it.
Herald Reactions. Every time a Herald is hit, it performs a reaction, revealing the first card of the Reaction deck and applying the effects on the card. If the reaction belongs to another Herald, discard this card and draw the next one.
Reaction cards indicate:
- The reaction name.
- The Herald that can perform the reaction.
- The effect.
- The Darkness level increase.
- The increase of the Retaliation track.
Each time you reveal a Reaction card, apply the effect. Then increase the Herald's Darkness level and raise the value of the Retaliation track. If the black marker is already on the last space (the one with the attack icon) of the retaliation track, and you have to move it 1 space, move it on the first space. When the black marker goes over the last space of the track, the Herald will immediately perform an additional attack. Once the card is resolved, put it at the bottom of the Reaction deck.
Herald Reborn State. If the Herald suffers damage equal to or greater than its health points, do the following:
- Remove the Herald miniature from the main board.
- Remove the black marker, the Darkness level die and all Health markers from the Herald card.
- Flip the Herald card to the Reborn side.
- Return the black marker to the last space of the Retaliation track.
- Return the Darkness level die to its space on the Herald card, setting it to 4.
- Draw a reborn card from the Reborn deck and apply its effect, returning the Herald miniature to the main board.
- Put the Reborn card at the bottom of the Reborn deck.
The Herald is now in its Reborn state. The Herald Reborn card is similar to the normal card, but the stats are different. Now the minimum Darkness level of the Herald is 1.
If the effect of the Reborn card says that the Herald must return to the board close to a scout who is located within the Citadel, it spawns adjacent to one of the Citadel gates, in the space closest to the space in which it was destroyed.
Sub-phase 5: Shadow Actions
Shadows are the most basic and the most common enemies. They are divided into:
- Unrevealed shadows (or blips): These are shadows that have not yet been revealed. They are represented by blip tokens, which spawn from singularities. Their Darkness level (always 4), health value, attack value, attack pattern and critical effect are indicated on the Enemy board.
- Revealed shadows: When a shadow is illuminated, the blip token is flipped and the shadow type is revealed. Each shadow is represented by an icon corresponding to the icon on its shadow card.
Each type of revealed shadow has a unique card that indicates its stats and effects. Shadow cards are positioned above the Enemy board. Each Shadow card shows:
- The shadow's name and icon.
- The Darkness level: always zero.
- The health points: if a shadow receives damage but has not been killed before the end of the Scout phase, its health will fully regenerate.
- The damage value: this is the damage dealt to the scouts when the shadow attacks.
- The hit pattern: the shadow is the central dot, and the highlighted spaces are the spaces hit during the shadow's attack.
- The reaction: performed immediately when the shadow is revealed (some shadows also have a trait, which is a passive effect which always applies).
- The critical effect: applied when the shadow does a critical hit.
- The movement points: the number of spaces the shadow moves.
- The empower value: only used if the empower mechanics is active.
- The Initiative number.
Shadow Actions. The shadows act after Outer Lords and Heralds. At the beginning of the Shadow sub-phase, all shadows will first perform a move action according to the Gravity die, starting with the shadow closest to the Citadel and continuing outwards.
Movement is only allowed between the spaces which are orthogonally adjacent, never diagonally. Any shadows with targets in their hit pattern after all shadow movements are concluded will perform an attack.
Although many shadows will spawn in Sheol, it's not necessarily required that you kill them all. In order to win, it's important to follow mission goals and kill only the shadows that are preventing you from achieving them or are a threat to the Citadel.
Shadow Movement. Shadows will move towards the Citadel in an effort to overwhelm it. Roll the Gravity die and apply the result accordingly. The possible results are:
- 1 movement towards the Omega axis.
- 1 movement towards the Alpha axis.
- 2 movements towards the Omega axis.
- 2 movements towards the Alpha axis.
- 1 move towards the nearest scout (if within 4 spaces) or towards the Omega axis.
- 1 move towards the nearest scout (if within 4 spaces) or towards the Alpha axis.
In general, a shadow simply moves to the next free space in the direction indicated by the Gravity die (Alpha, Omega, or a scout).
Example: Let's see how each shadow moves if the result of the Gravity die is Alpha. Note that a similar scenario could apply if the result of the die was Omega or towards a scout.
- It moves, jumping the singularity, in F1.
- It moves normally over the event tile into F3.
- It moves normally over the Dark Conglomerate obstacle in E8.
- It should jump the coralbone obstacle, but it can't because of the Lux Trench, so it goes around the obstacle, occupying the first space closest to the Citadel, which is D10.
- Revealed shadows move like a blip. It moves normally into D16.
- It tries to go inside the Citadel and is destroyed. The Citadel loses 1 Prosperity point.
- It moves into I14 because it is inside a Focal Zone (the red corridor on the axis), so it can't move more toward the axis.
- It moves towards the Lightstream tile in J5, but it's pushed back. The tile is flipped and turns dim.
- It moves towards the Lightstream tile in J12, but it's pushed back. The tile is destroyed.
- It moves normally into M2.
- It moves normally onto the land tile, into L15.
- It jumps the coralbone obstacles and goes into K4.
- It goes around the Lux Trench, occupying the first space closest to the Citadel, which is P10.
- It goes around the scout, occupying the first space closest to the Citadel, which could be either Q7 or Q9 (players choice).
NOTE: if this is your first time playing Sheol, you may skip the following rules section and jump to "Shadows and Lightstream tiles".
There are some cases where a shadow encounters an occupied space. In these cases, the shadow will act as follows:
- The shadow "jumps" if it encounters an Outer Lord, a Herald, another shadow, a coralbone obstacle, or a singularity. It moves, jumping over the obstacle(s) to the closest free space nearest to its target and, in cases of indecision, toward the Citadel. If a shadow jumps over something placed on a Lightstream tile, it does not turn it dim or destroy it (see section: Shadows and Lightstream Tiles).
- The shadow "goes around" if it encounters a scout, a Lux Trench obstacle or a Rift obstacle, following the shortest path to its target. As a general rule, the shadow occupies the closest free space nearest to its target and, in cases of indecision, toward the Citadel.
- The shadow "goes over" if it encounters a Dark Conglomerate obstacle, a land tile, a facility token, a mission token or an event tile. It moves normally, as it would into empty spaces.
- The shadow is "pushed back" if it encounters a drone (making it lose 1 life point or destroying it) or a Lightstream tile (turning it dim or destroying it). The shadow effectively remains in the same space. See section: Shadows and Lightstream Tiles.
- The shadow is destroyed if it encounters a mech, but the mech is also destroyed. If a shadow reaches the Citadel area, it is incinerated by the Lightring that surrounds the plateau, but the Citadel suffers the loss of 1 Prosperity point.
In addition, the following rules also apply:
- Revealed shadows move before blips, starting with the type with the highest initiative number. If there are many shadows placed on the main board and it's difficult to determine the order, you can ignore the initiative order and move all the shadows at the same time.
- If a shadow has to move toward a scout, it does not move if it's already adjacent to one.
- If a shadow is in a Focal Zone (the red corridors on the axes), it will move towards the Citadel instead of towards the axis indicated by the Gravity die, but it will still move towards a scout if instructed to do so. Also, if a shadow is in a Focal Zone but has to move towards an obstacle, it may leave the focal zone to go around the obstacle, always choosing the shortest path towards the Citadel.
- If there is any indecision about how the shadow would move, roll the Gravity die and apply the result accordingly. If there is still indecision, choose the solution which is worse for the scouts.
NOTE: In the appendix there are some tables that resume all the possible movement cases.
Flying Movement. Some enemies can fly. Flying movement is the same as normal movement, but flying allows enemies to pass a scout, a drone or a mech as long as the movement value is at least sufficient to reach the next unoccupied space.
Flying shadows go over and could stay over a Lux Trench obstacle, or a Rift obstacle. Flying enemies cannot pass the Citadel. Enemies that fly will jump over the same objects as enemies that do not fly.
Shadows and Lightstream Tiles. Shadows cannot go over Lightstream tiles. Each time a shadow should move over a Lightstream tile, it will bounce back into its current space instead of entering. This also applies to flying shadows. In that case, however, the Lightstream tile is damaged, making it flip from the bright (blue) side to the dim (red) side, or destroying it if the Lightstream tile is already on the dim side.
If there is a scout over a Lightstream tile and a shadow tries to move towards it, apply the rules as the shadow encounters a Scout, so it goes around. Basically, the scout protects the Lightstream.
NOTE: If you need to measure the distance from one object to another (for example a scout from a shadow), simply count the spaces between them orthogonally.
Shadow Attack. If a scout is within a shadow's hit pattern immediately after performing its movement at the beginning of the sub-phase, it will attack by rolling a Shadow die:
- Hit.
- Critical Hit.
- Hit. Shadow deals 1 damage less.
- Miss.
If there is more than one scout within the shadow's hit pattern, it will attack the one with the most Lux. Corrupted scouts always count as having less Lux than another scout who has not been corrupted. If there is still a tie, the shadow attacks the scout with the most Umbra. If both Lux and Umbra are equal, the players may choose the target.
If the result is a hit, the scout loses or corrupts Lux equivalent to the damage value of the shadow. Damage can be avoided by using Lightshield cards (see section: Using Lightshields) or if you have shield markers. On a critical hit, the shadow applies a special effect according to its type.
Darkness Level and Reactions. Every time a shadow is revealed by a scout, its darkness level drops to zero, and it performs a reaction. Shadows will only perform a reaction once, and their darkness level cannot increase. Every time a shadow is revealed by an effect (for example, moving onto a land or a Mission card effect) the shadow does not react.
NOTE: The shadow Darkness level is 4 when the shadow is a blip and zero when the shadow is revealed.
Sub-phase 6: Generate Shadows
At the end of each Shadow phase, new shadows appear. These are spawned by points called singularities. The singularity tokens are split into three groups, differentiated by their symbols (Circular, Triangular, and Square), and each of these symbols has a white (alert) side and a red (danger) side.
To generate new shadows:
- Choose a group.
- Determine whether this group is alert or in danger. (It is not possible for two singularities with the same symbol to display different colors).
- Depending on whether the group is alert or in danger, roll the corresponding Generation die. Each singularity in that group then spawns the number of shadows displayed on the die.
- Draw blips randomly from the dispenser and place them sequentially in the spaces adjacent to each of the singularities in the group, blip side up, starting from the space next to the arrow and proceeding clockwise. Include the spaces diagonal to the singularity. If a space is already occupied by a scout, a mech, a drone, an Outer Lord, a Herald, a shadow, a Lux Trench obstacle, a Rift obstacle, a singularity, or the Citadel, spawn it in the next free space. If there are modifiers on any of the singularities (see next section), add or subtract the correct number of blips.
- At a certain point in the main campaign, Hypershadows will begin to spawn. Before that point, ignore the Hypershadow symbol. If the enemies table in the Mission Manual indicates that Hypershadows are present in a mission and the die displays the Hypershadow symbol, generate a Hypershadow in addition to the number of shadows indicated. If there are modifiers on any of the singularities (see next section), add the correct number of Hypershadows.
- If you obtain the flip result on the Danger die or the flip result on the Alert die, flip the singularities in that group to their other side. While doing so, turn each singularity clockwise so that the arrow now points to the next adjacent space (including spaces diagonal), even if it is occupied.
- Repeat these steps for the other two singularity groups, if they are present.
In addition, the following rules also apply:
If all eight spaces adjacent to a singularity are occupied at any time during generation, it does not spawn any further shadows this turn.
If a shadow were ever to spawn on a bright Lightstream tile, the tile is flipped to the dim side, and no blip spawns. If the Lightstream tile is dim, the tile is destroyed, and a blip will spawn normally.
You can spawn shadows on top of coralbone obstacles.
When you set up a singularity, always put the arrow pointing to the space nearest to the Citadel, remembering to include diagonal spaces.
Example: To spawn shadows from a circular singularity (and from all the circular singularities in play), you have to roll a Generation die, and then place the blips starting from the space the arrow points at and proceeding clockwise. In this case, because the singularity is red, we roll the Danger die: the result is "3 and flip". So, take 3 blips from the bag and place them according to the rules. The first shadow is positioned in the first space indicated; the second is positioned on the coralbone after the Lux Trench (which blocks shadows); and the third is positioned normally. Once the generation from a singularity is complete, flip it to the other side (white in this case) and rotate it by 1 space clockwise, so the arrow now points to the diagonal space.
End of the Phase. Once all of the applicable sub-phases have been completed, the Shadow phase ends. The effects triggered by the keyword "End of the Shadow Phase" take place at this point, along with any other universal end-of-phase effects specified by the mission.
Once the Shadow phase is over, the Scout phase begins.
Additional Enemy Mechanics
IMPORTANT: if this is your first time playing Sheol, you should skip this section.
Proceeding with the campaign you will unlock additional mechanics that add more layers to the game and make it more difficult. During the setup of a mission, on the mission manual you will find a table showing which mechanics are active.
Some of these mechanics correspond to cards that you add below the enemy board and when they are placed, they activate additional rules. In this section we'll see them in detail.
Vial Change
Whenever a scout outside of the Citadel runs out of Lux in a vial, they turn off their lights to replace it with another. This causes shadows nearby to make a reaction.
Setup. To activate this mechanic, just place the respective card on the correct side below the matching symbol on the Enemy board.
Effects during gameplay. When this mechanic is active, each time you finish a vial of Lux, in addition to the usual corruption increase/check, you have to throw the scout die. If the result matches one of the effects on the Vial change card, you have to apply the effect. These effects are usually shadow movement or attacks made by shadows within 4 spaces of you.
If you change the Lux vial because you spent Lux to perform an action, you must complete the action before moving the shadows.
Ignore these effects and do not throw the die if your scout is inside the Citadel, or if there are no shadows within 4 spaces of you.
Threats
Threats are additional maluses and shadows actions that will happen during the Shadow phase.
Setup. To activate this mechanic, place the respective card on the correct side below the matching symbol on the Enemy board. Also place a Threat token on the Menace track turn number for each turn stated on the table. For example, if it says turn 2 and turn 3, place a token on the 2 and one on the 3.
Then, take all the Threat cards with the level matching the mission level (you can see it on the top right corner of the mission manual page), shuffle them and place them face down in their space on the Enemy board. Put the unused Threat cards back in the box.
Each Threat card is composed of a unique name, an effect, and the mission level. Remember to create the Threat deck using only the cards that are allowed for the current mission.
Effects during gameplay. The Threat sub-phase happens only if the Threat Enemy mechanics is active. If when you started the turn and increased the menace the black marker of the Threat track is over a Threat token, then draw a new Threat card from the Threat deck and apply its effect.
If a threat has a passive effect, it lasts for all the turn. In that case keep the card visible on the top of the deck. If the Threat Enemy mechanics is on the B-side, draw instead 2 cards and apply them in sequence.
Empower
Defeated shadows will increase the danger of their shadow type.
Setup. To activate this mechanic, just place the respective card on the correct side below the matching symbol on the Enemy board.
Effects during gameplay. When this mechanic is active, each time you defeat a revealed shadow, don't put back the token in the dispenser, but place it on the respective Shadow card, just above the Empower value.
When you placed enough tokens on the card to match the Empower value, put them back in the dispenser and flip the Shadow card on the Empowered side. The shadow now has higher statistics. You don't need to place any more shadow tokens on that shadow card.
If you defeat a blip, put it in the dispenser as usual.
If the Shadow card has some modifiers due to the Nightmare mechanics, carry them to its empower version, changing the numbers accordingly.
Hypershadows
Hypershadows are powerful combined shadows that appear later in the game. Hypershadows are composed of a stack of two blips.
Setup. To activate this mechanic, place the respective card on the correct side below the matching symbol on the Enemy board.
If you have to place a Hypershadow during setup, draw two blips and place them one on top of the other.
Generation. When this mechanic is active, each time that you obtain the Hypershadow symbol on the Alert die or on the Danger die during the generation sub-phase, you have to spawn a Hypershadow from each singularity of the type you rolled for.
To do so, generate the number of regular shadows as indicated on the die as normal, then draw two blip tokens instead of one and place them one on top of the other to create the Hypershadow.
Effects during gameplay. Hypershadows are similar to other shadows, moving and attacking in the same way, but with some differences:
- When a Hypershadow is revealed, apply the reaction of the bottom blip twice. If the Devourer reaction is triggered, place a stack of two coralbone tokens below the Hypershadow. You will need to perform two Reveal actions to destroy the coralbone completely.
- The revealed Hypershadow uses the stats of the top token, with +1 health and +1 attack.
- All Hypershadows use a unique hit pattern, instead of the one used by their normal counterparts. All Hypershadow attacks are Area of Effect attacks (AoE), so you have to roll the Shadow die for each scout in the hit pattern.
- When a Hypershadow is destroyed, remove the bottom blip. The Hypershadow becomes a normal revealed shadow, if it was revealed, or a blip if it was not revealed.
- When a revealed Hypershadow is destroyed, you gain 1 Umbra. When a revealed shadow (consequence of a Hypershadow) is destroyed, you gain 1 Umbra as it was a normal shadow.
- Hypershadows count as shadows for bonuses and negative effects to their statistics.
Nightmare
Shadows and Heralds statistics are increased.
Setup. To activate this mechanic, place the respective card on the correct side below the matching symbol on the Enemy board.
Then, using the shadow number tokens, adjust the shadow statistics accordingly. For example, if the mechanic says a stat + 1, add 1 to all of that stat of blips and revealed shadows.
Effects during gameplay. There are no additional effects during gameplay, except for the stats change.
Altered Singularities
Mission effects and some Printer items could alter the spawn rates of singularities. This is indicated using blue, red and purple cubes.
During setup, some missions indicate that the spawn rate of a singularity be increased by displaying a red or purple number on them. When you place these singularity tokens, put an amount of red or purple cubes equal to this number onto them. When spawning, a singularity produces 1 more shadow for each red cube (Booster marker) on it and one more Hypershadow for each purple cube (Hypershadow Booster marker) on it. These are in addition to the number of shadows and/or Hypershadows that it would normally produce.
When you have to reduce the spawn rate of a singularity, place an amount of blue cubes (Limiter markers) equal to that number onto it. When spawning, a singularity produces 1 less shadow for each Limiter marker on it. Hypershadows are not affected by these Limiter markers.
Other Mechanics
These mechanics don't add a card below the Enemy board, but anyway they change some gameplay elements.
Double Movement Corridors. Sometimes the mission setup or effects could create Double Movement Corridors. These rows or columns are identified by placing a red cube (Acceleration marker) on the main board numbers or letters. For example, if you place an Acceleration marker on the letters M and N, then the entirety of rows M and N will be affected and become Double Movement Corridors.
Shadows do not spend movement points when they end their movement in a Double Movement Corridor, but will immediately perform another movement towards their target.
Scout Phase
When the Scout phase takes place, the scouts are called to action and must fight to chase off the shadows and achieve their goals.
The Scout phase is split into 6 sub-phases:
- Production
- Recharge Facilities
- Recharge Movement
- Recharge Actions
- Refill Lightshield
- Scout Actions
Sub-phase 1: Production
It is the players' turn. The effects triggered by the keyword "Start of the Scout Phase" take place at this point, along with any other universal start-of-phase effects specified by the mission.
At the beginning of the Scout phase, Umbra Extractor and Lux Synthesizer facilities produce Umbra and Lux respectively. Each Umbra Extractor produces the amount of Umbra specified by the card for the land on which it has been built. Lux Synthesizers produce 1 Lux each.
Sub-phase 2: Recharge Facilities
Facilities that were activated during the Scout Action sub-phase are now recharged. Flip them from the "reload" side to the "ready" side.
Sub-phase 3: Recharge Movement
Set the Movement track to the starting movement value, as specified on the Scout card.
Sub-phase 4: Recharge Actions
If there are unused action points from the last turn, these become movement points, without exceeding the maximum number of 5. Remove any points left on the Action track and add a point to the Movement track for each one removed. Then, reset the Action track to 3.
Sub-phase 5: Refill Lightshield and Gain Shield
Each scout may discard a single Lightshield card if they choose, then draws new Lightshield cards until they reach their hand limit.
If your Lightshield deck is exhausted and you have to draw to refill your hand, you gain 1 corruption and you have to make a corruption check (see section "Corruption"). Then you have to reshuffle your discarded cards to create a new deck. This procedure must be performed any time an effect forces you to draw from the empty deck.
If you have equipped accessories that give you shield, you gain the amount of shield stated on the accessory card.
Sub-phase 6: Scout Actions
This sub-phase represents a large portion of the gameplay in Sheol. In this sub-phase, you perform the actions which are available to you. Each player has 3 or more actions to perform, and the same action can be performed multiple times. There is no turn order, so players must decide together who is going to perform each action. This means that play might alternate between players, or you could even take all of your actions successively before passing to another player. The only limit is the number of action points the players have available to them.
Most of the actions have a cost in Lux, specified on the equipment cards or on the Scout card. This can be discounted using Lightshield cards (see section: Using Lightshields).
Movement is not an action. You can move any time between actions by spending your movement points.
A player is not required to perform any actions on their turn if they so wish. Once a player has performed as many actions as they wish (or can afford), they must pass.
End of the Phase. Once all players have completed their actions or passed, the Scout phase ends. The effects triggered by the keyword "End of the Scout Phase" take place at this point, along with any other universal end-of-phase effects specified by the mission.
Once the Scout phase is over, the Shadow phase begins.
The Scout Card in Detail
Scouts are the protagonists of Sheol. They are illustrated on the Scout cards, which you will use during missions. On the front of each card, you will find:
- The number of starting Lux vials: you have to place the token with the corresponding number on the Lux board.
- The Lightshield card hand limit: every time you have to refill your hand, you will draw Lightshield cards until you reach this number.
- The Corruption threshold (see section: Corruption).
- Two of the following archetypes: Astrality, Brightness, Camouflage, Care, Defense, Dexterity, Endarkenment, Luxarms, Mechanics and Melee. The archetypes are fundamental when choosing new Lightshield and equipment cards, and for event and mission challenges.
- The scout's name.
- The critical effect: when you deal a critical hit, you will apply this effect.
- The base movement points, replenished during the relevant Scout sub-phase.
- The additional movement points which can be acquired.
- The Lux cost of additional movement points.
On the back of the card, you will find the corrupted version of your scout. Most of the same information is displayed, but some statistics and effects are different (see section: Corruption).
Lightstream Connection
- The land is not connected to anything.
- The Maenad is not connected to anything because she is on an undiscovered land. This cannot be discovered until the blip in E11 is destroyed.
- The land is not connected because there is no Lightstream tile under the event tile in J5. The Lux Synthesizer in H4 produces 1 Lux during the Production sub-phase, but since it's not connected to any scout or the Citadel, the Lux is left on the facility token.
- The Breathless is connected to the Citadel and the other elements connected to the Citadel.
- The land is connected to the Citadel, because the blip in K6 has a Lightstream tile beneath. During the Production sub-phase, the Lux Synthesizer in L4 produces 1 Lux that could be claimed by the Breathless, or put onto either the Citadel or the land in question.
- The land is not connected because the Lightstream is not connected to one of the Citadel gates.
- The Pioneer is not connected to the Citadel, because the Lightstream tile in L14 is not connected to the one in L15.
- The land is connected to the Citadel, because the Lux Trench forms part of the connection to the Lightstream. The Umbra Extractor in Q12 produces 2 Umbra that could be claimed by the Breathless, or put onto either the Citadel or the land in question.
- The Cyclops is connected to the Pioneer, because there is a Lightstream tile below the event tile in K18.
- The land is connected to land H and to the Citadel, but is undiscovered.
Scout Movement
Scout movement entails moving your miniature a number of spaces, equal to the number of movement points spent. Movement is never considered an action, and movement points can be spent freely between performing actions.
The details of a scout's movement are specified on the bottom of their Scout card. The first value is the base movement. These are the amount of free movement points that you can use to move without paying Lux, recorded by the Movement track of the Lux board. This value is recharged on the Movement track during the relevant Scout sub-phase.
If you wish to move more than the free allowance, then you can exchange Lux for movement points. Gain the amount of movement points depicted in the second value of the movement section for every 1 Lux spent. You can gain these extra points multiple times in the same turn, adding them to the track on the Lux board, but each time you do, you have to pay an additional Lux. So 1 Lux the first time, 2 the second time and so on.
Movement is only allowed between spaces which are orthogonally adjacent, never diagonally.
Movement only occurs if the target space is not already occupied by another scout, a mech, an Outer Lord, a Herald, a shadow, a coralbone obstacle, a Dark Conglomerate obstacle, a Rift obstacle, a Peak obstacle or a singularity. A scout or a mech can be passed freely, as long as the movement value is at least sufficient to reach the next unoccupied space.
Place Lightstream. You can move from a lit space into a dark space. If the Lightstream has an opening facing the target space, you can place a Lightstream tile from your inventory below you as you do so for free. Doing this requires that you have already acquired at least one Lightstream tile into your inventory using a Plan action (see section: Lantern Action: Plan).
Tiles are placed with the bright side up, unless placed adjacent to an enemy, in which case they are placed dim side up. The Citadel and discovered lands also count as lit spaces. The Citadel only counts as having openings at the Citadel gates, which are the spaces connecting to the Focal Zones. Lands count as having an opening in all orthogonal directions.
If you move from a dark space, or from the Lightstream without an opening facing the target space, then you cannot place a Lightstream tile in this way.
Movement into a lit space, including one on which a Lightstream tile has just been placed, usually costs 1 movement point.
If Lightstream paths are adjacent to each other but not properly connected, you can still move between them at a cost of 1 movement point, but remember that many effects in Sheol (for example, discovering lands) only trigger if the target is connected to a scout starting point (usually the Citadel).
Movement into a dark space without placing a Lightstream usually costs 2 movement points. In addition, if you finish the Scout phase in a dark space, you will gain a Corruption. Lightshield cards, accessories, and items can increase movement.
Lands function in the same way as four spaces on the map, while the Citadel area counts as one space.
Replace Lightstream. If you move onto a lightstream tile, you can choose to replace it with a new one. If the replaced lightstream is dim, you can replace it with a bright one, unless it is placed adjacent to an enemy, in which case it is placed dim side up.
Scout Swap. If two scouts are adjacent, they can swap their position spending 1 movement point each at the same time.
NOTE: There are some tables that resume all the possible movement cases in the appendix.
Obstacles. In Sheol, obstacles are tiles and tokens that can prevent or encourage movement of scouts and shadows.
Obstacle Tiles. There are four types of obstacle tile:
- Lux Trenches: Obstacles for shadows and Heralds (unless they fly), but scouts can go over them as if they are Lightstream tiles. For the purposes of connection, these obstacles count as having an opening in all orthogonal directions, but are only truly connected if the Lightstream tile has an opening facing the obstacle.
- Dark Conglomerates: Obstacles for scouts (unless they fly), but enemies can go over them, treating them as though they are normal spaces.
- Rifts: Obstacles for scouts, shadows and Heralds alike, unless they fly.
- Peaks: Obstacles for scouts, shadows and Heralds alike.
Obstacle tiles cannot be destroyed, except by special effects defined by Mission cards.
Coralbone Tokens. Coralbones will block movement for the scouts as well, and enemies are capable of jumping over them, expediting their advance toward the Citadel. They are defined as obstacles like the others, but as they are tokens and not tiles they can be destroyed by performing a Reveal action.
Flying. Some scouts can fly. Flying movement is the same as normal movement, but flying always costs 1 movement point per space (even if you pass a dark space) and allows scouts to pass a Herald, a shadow, a coralbone obstacle, a Dark Conglomerate obstacle, a Rift obstacle, or a singularity, as long as the movement value is at least sufficient to reach the next unoccupied space. Outer Lords or Peaks can't be passed with flying movement.
Flying movement has the same costs associated with normal movement and can also be discounted using Lightshields (see section: Using Lightshields).
Special Lightstream Tiles. Some of the Lightstream tiles have one symbol in the middle which gives bonuses to the scouts.
- Arrow: When a scout enters a Lightstream tile with the arrow symbol, they have to pay 1 less movement point (usually, this reduces the cost for the single movement to zero).
- Armor: If a scout is on a Lightstream tile with the armor symbol, they receive 1 less damage from attacks.
- Attack: If a scout is on a Lightstream tile with the attack symbol, they do 1 more damage with their attacks.
Lightstream Depletion. In later phases of the game, there may not be enough Lightstream tiles in the dispenser to create a new pool. In this case, proceed as follows:
- Remove the Lightstream tile which is furthest from the Citadel and is not beneath or orthogonally adjacent to a scout from the main board.
- Put this tile into the dispenser.
- Check that there are enough Lightstream tiles in the dispenser to create a new pool. If not, repeat these steps.
Points of Interest. While investigating the Lands of Sheol, unexpected events may occur.
If you move into a space which contains a Point of Interest tile, stop your movement, remove the tile and draw 2 Point of Interest mission cards from the respective deck. Read the cards, choose one and discard the other. Place the chosen card near the mission cards. It is now an additional goal to complete.
The card has some flavor text and a Goal.
Remember that Lightstream tiles can be placed under event tiles.
Rewards. Sometimes the lands of the night hide fantastic treasures.
Rewards may be acquired in 2 main ways: by mission or exploration cards, when you find the reward icon, or moving into a space which contains a Reward tile.
In both cases, draw 1 (or more if the mission card says so) Reward card from the respective deck.
The card has some flavor text and an effect. Immediately resolve the effect, then place the card below the deck. Don't shuffle it.
If you acquired the Reward card because you went over a Reward tile, remove the tile.
Remember that Lightstream tiles can be placed under Reward tiles.
Abandoned Lux and Umbra. You can find some abandoned Lux and Umbra. These tiles are like the Treasure tiles and are removed once you go over them. Also, you gain Lux or Umbra depending on the tile. Umbra gained goes to the Inventory of the scout that gains it (see section: Inventory).
Example:
- The Breathless has to reach the nearest Twilight Land. She has 2 movement points, 5 Lux in the current vial, and some Lightstream tiles acquired before with a Plan action. She uses her movement point to move on the Lightstream.
- Then, she pays 3 Lux to get 2 additional movement points, as defined on the movement area of her Scout card.
- Now she spends the movement points she just gained to move onto the land. While she does the movement, she places 2 Lightstream tiles which she has acquired before. When she reaches the land, it is immediately discovered because it is connected to the Citadel by the Lightstream.
Scout Actions
This section details the actions that you can perform. Almost all actions are bounded to equipment or cards in play.
Overview
Available actions are as follows:
Lantern actions: Plan, Reveal, Overloaded Plan (with number), Overloaded Reveal (with pattern), Lantern Repair.
Weapon actions: Attack in pattern, Overloaded Attack, Weapon Repair.
Land actions: Discover, Build, Activate Facility (free), Explore, Deploy Printer, Cure corruption (free), Obtain Shield (free).
Citadel actions: Deposit Umbra (free), Cure corruption (free), Use Technology (free), Activate Printer (free).
Other actions: Use Item (free), Use Accessory (free), Exchange Items and Umbra (free), Discard from inventory (free).
The actions marked as free means that they don't cost action points, but there may be other costs to pay. Movement is not considered an action. Collecting resources from spaces is not considered an action.
Using Lightshield cards is not considered an action, though doing so may still cost action points (see section: Using Lightshields).
Some actions can't be performed if you are inside the Citadel.
Servodroid Actions
Servodroids and scouts could perform the same actions and there is no actual difference except that when a Servodroid is performing an action with a Lux cost, any scout can choose to spend their own Lux points instead of those of the Servodroid.
Lanterns and Lantern Actions
Lantern actions are performed using the scout's equipped lantern. A Lantern card is laid out as follows:
- The lantern name, unique for each lantern.
- The number of Lightstream tiles acquired during a Plan action.
- The Lux cost of performing a Plan action.
- The illumination pattern. This indicates which spaces can be affected during a Reveal action.
- The maximum number of shadows revealed during a reveal action.
- The Lux cost of performing a Reveal action.
- The Overload effect of the lantern. This could contain a number that overrides the Plan action number, or a pattern that overrides the Reveal action pattern.
- The Lux cost of performing an Overload action.
- The durability of the lantern.
- Any special effects of the lantern are written here.
- The lantern level.
- The faction icon.
- The Umbra cost (or lightshields to discard) of repairing the lantern.
- The number of action points required to repair the lantern.
- Each lantern has two archetypes. You can only equip a lantern if your scout shares at least one of these archetypes.
Lantern Action: Plan. In order to navigate your way efficiently through the Lands of Sheol, you must connect locations to each other via the Lightstream, creating a path between them. Lightstream tiles have to be acquired by performing a Plan action from the pool. Normally there is a pool of 5 Lightstream tiles available next to the Citadel board.
To perform a Plan action:
- Pay one action point;
- Pay the respective Lux cost listed on the Lantern card. This can be discounted using Lightshields (see section: Using Lightshields).
- Draw the number of Lightstream tiles specified on the Lantern card from the common pool and put them into your inventory (see section: Inventory).
Once acquired, Lightstream tiles are kept in the scout's inventory until they are used, or until the end of the mission. Acquired Lightstream tiles can be placed on the main board to create paths during movement or during a Reveal action.
If at any time the pool of available Lightstream tiles is exhausted, you have to randomly draw 5 new tiles from the dispenser and refill the pool.
It is not possible to perform a Plan action if the lantern is broken.
Lantern Action: Repair. Lanterns and weapons might be damaged during the game. Generally, there are three ways a piece of equipment might be damaged: by enemies, by Mission or Exploration cards, or by Overloaded actions.
Lantern Action: Reveal. Enemies usually enter the field unrevealed, which means they have a Darkness level of 4. To illuminate a shadow, you must perform a Reveal action. The illumination pattern displays the position of your scout on the main board grid (as a black dot) and highlights the spaces which can be affected by performing this action. A Reveal action is always considered an Area of Effect (AoE) action.
To perform a Reveal action:
- Pay one action point;
- Pay the respective Lux cost listed on the Lantern card. This can be discounted using Lightshields (see section: Using Lightshields).
- Destroy one layer of coralbone tokens within the pattern. (If a space contains one coralbone token, remove it from the board. If a space contains two coralbone tokens, only remove the top one.)
- If there is an Outer Lord within the pattern, for each space that covers the Outer Lord, decrease its Darkness level by 2.
- If there is a Herald within the pattern, decrease its Darkness level by 4. If there are multiple Heralds, start with the one closest to the scout.
- If there is a blip token within the pattern, decrease its Darkness level by 4 (blips always go to zero darkness level). If there are multiple blips, start with the one closest to the scout. Then, flip the token to determine what type of shadow has been revealed. The token now represents the shadow, or you can remove the blip token from the game and place the corresponding miniature on the space previously occupied by the blip. When revealed in this way, the shadow will immediately perform the reaction found on the respective Shadow board (see section: Darkness level and reactions). This Darkness level decrease in shadows is permanent and therefore cannot be decreased. Any enemies within the pattern with a Darkness level of zero are completely unaffected.
- Any number of Lightstream tiles a scout has already acquired may now be placed in any of the permitted spaces within the illumination pattern. Tiles must be connected to other lightstream tiles and are placed with the bright side up, unless placed adjacent to an enemy, including diagonally, in which case they are placed dim side up. Tiles cannot be placed in any space occupied by any other game component, with the exception of scouts, mechs, drones, mission tokens, reward and point of interest tiles. Following the same rules, you can even replace existing lightstream tiles.
This action cannot be performed if the lantern is broken, or from inside the Citadel.
Example: The Pioneer decides to perform a Reveal action. He pays 1 action and 1 Lux (the Reveal cost defined on the lantern). The illumination pattern is enough to cover the blip and the coralbone obstacle.
Lantern Action: Overloaded Plan. Overload actions are usually stronger than their normal equivalent, but every time you perform one you risk causing damage to the equipment in use.
If a number is present in the Overload effect area of a lantern, you can perform an Overloaded Plan action and draw the number of tiles indicated instead of the normal amount.
Performing an Overloaded Plan action is similar to a normal Plan action, but with the following differences:
- You must pay the cost of performing the Overloaded Plan action instead of the normal cost (the number of action points remains unchanged).
- You must roll a Fate die to determine whether the lantern is damaged by the action. For each symbol you obtain, place a red cube (Break marker) on the lantern. If you break the lantern, perform the action anyway, then flip the lantern on the broken side.
All other rules remain unchanged.
It is not possible to perform an Overloaded Plan action if the lantern is broken.
Lantern Action: Overloaded Reveal. If an illumination pattern is present in the Overload effect area of a lantern, you can perform an Overloaded Reveal action and use this pattern instead of the normal one.
Performing an Overloaded Reveal action is similar to a normal Reveal action, but with the following differences:
- You must pay the cost of performing the Overloaded Reveal action instead of the normal cost (the number of action points remains unchanged).
- You must roll a Fate die to determine whether the lantern is damaged by the action. For each symbol you obtain, place a red cube (Break marker) on the lantern. If you break the lantern, perform the action anyway, then flip the lantern on the broken side.
- If you place any Lightstream tiles when performing this action, they are always placed bright side up, even if enemies are adjacent.
All other rules remain unchanged.
It is not possible to perform an Overloaded Reveal action if the lantern is broken.
Weapons and Weapon Actions
Weapon actions are performed using the scout's equipped weapon. A Weapon card is laid out as follows:
- The weapon name, unique for each weapon.
- The amount of damage inflicted during an Attack action.
- The Lux cost of performing an Attack action.
- The hit pattern. This indicates which spaces can be affected during an Attack action. A blue pattern indicates that the attack will have an Area of Effect (AoE).
- The Overload effect of the weapon. This could contain a number that overrides the damage number, or a pattern that overrides the hit pattern.
- The Lux cost of performing an Overload action.
- The durability of the weapon.
- Any special effects of the weapon are written here.
- The weapon level.
- The faction icon.
- The Umbra cost (or lightshields to discard) of repairing the weapon.
- The number of action points required to repair the weapon.
- Each weapon has two archetypes. You can only equip a weapon if your scout shares at least one of these archetypes.
Repair Action. Damage is counted by placing red cubes (Break markers) on the equipment. Every time a piece of equipment receives one point of damage, place one Break marker on its card. If the number of Break markers on the equipment is equal to or greater than its durability at any time, then it has been broken. Discard all Break markers and flip the card face down. You cannot use this equipment until it has been repaired by performing a Repair action.
To perform a Repair action:
- Pay the correct amount of action points, Umbra or cards to discard listed on the back of the card;
- Flip the card to return it to the repaired side.
A Repair action may only be performed on a piece of equipment when it is broken. It is not possible to perform a Repair action on equipment which has merely sustained some damage.
Example: The coralbone is destroyed, and the shadow is revealed. The blip is flipped to see what type the shadow is: it's a Moth. If desired, remove the blip and replace it with the respective miniature. When a shadow is revealed, it reacts as defined on its Shadow board. The Moth moves 1 space away from the Pioneer. Once the Moth has finished its reaction, the Pioneer takes a Lightstream tile from his reserve (acquired before with a Plan action) and places it in one of the spaces of the illumination pattern.
Weapon Action: Attack. The scouts have a wide range of weapons and techniques at their disposal to help them defeat the shadows. The Attack action is the most direct way to kill the shadows.
The hit pattern displays the position of your scout on the main board grid (as a black dot) and highlights the spaces which can be affected by performing this action. Normally you can only hit one enemy per Attack action, but if the pattern is blue then the attack will have an Area of Effect (AoE).
To perform an Attack action:
- Pay one action point;
- Pay the respective Lux cost listed on the Weapon card. This can be discounted using Lightshields (see section: Using Lightshields);
- Declare which shadow within the hit pattern of your weapon that you wish to attack, then roll a Scout die. When performing an AoE attack, roll a Scout die for each individual enemy:
- Success if the darkness level of the shadow is 0. If you are successful, apply your scout's critical effect.
- Success if the darkness level of the shadow is 1 or less.
- Success if the darkness level of the shadow is 2 or less, you deal 1 less damage.
- Success if the darkness level of the shadow is 3 or less.
- Success if the darkness level of the shadow is 4 or less.
- Success if the darkness level of the shadow is 3 or less, you deal 1 additional damage.
- Success if the darkness level of the shadow is 3 or less, you deal 1 less damage.
- Success if the darkness level of the shadow is 4 or less.
- Success if the darkness level of the shadow is 5 or less, you deal 1 additional damage.
- Success if the darkness level of the shadow is 6 or less.
With a success of 4 or more you hit all enemies except Outer Lords, when their illumination level is above 4.
Damage modifiers change the base damage inflicted on enemies as specified on the Weapon card. In Sheol, attacking relies on illuminating your enemies, and therefore critical hit effects are applied when your target is at its most visible (when it has a Darkness level of zero).
This action cannot be performed if the weapon is broken, or from inside the Citadel.
Attacking with the Blue Scout Die. Some advanced weapons or effects will make you attack rolling the Scout blue die instead of the white one. The attack action follows the same rules, only the die and its effects change.
- Success if the darkness level of the shadow is 2 or less. If you are successful, apply your scout's critical effect.
- Success if the darkness level of the shadow is 2 or less.
Dealing Damage and Killing Enemies. When attacking a shadow and the damage inflicted is equal to or greater than the health value of the shadow, it is killed and the token or miniature is removed from the board. If an attack does not inflict enough damage to kill the shadow, the damage is sustained until the end of the Scout phase. If required, place red cubes (Health markers) next to the blip token or miniature to indicate this. At the end of the Scout phase, all damaged shadows are healed.
Unlike shadows, Outer Lords and Heralds do not heal at the end of the Scout phase. As they sustain damage, the accumulated Health markers (red cubes on their boards) are permanent, so it is not necessary to kill them in one turn. Unfortunately, they are also extremely resilient and capable of striking back. When you successfully damage an Outer Lord or a Herald, they will immediately perform a reaction (see sections: Outer Lords; Heralds).
There is no reward for killing a blip without revealing it. Successfully defeating a revealed shadow will yield 1 Umbra. Successfully defeating a Herald will reward the scouts with 4 Umbra. There is no reward for defeating an Outer Lord beyond the continued survival of humanity inside the Citadel.
NOTE: Remember that while shadows react when they are revealed, Heralds and Outer Lords will react when they take damage instead!
Example: The Pioneer performs an Attack action using his "Flashgun" Weapon card. He pays 1 action and 1 Lux. The hit pattern is composed of 2 spaces, which means that the Moth is within range. The Pioneer rolls a Scout die to try to hit the Moth: the result is "success if enemy illumination is 3 or more, +1 damage". The Illumination level of a revealed shadow is always 4, so the Moth is hit. The damage dealt is 3: the "Flashgun" damage value of 2, +1 damage from the die. The health of the Moth is 2, so it is defeated. The Pioneer gains 1 Umbra.
Weapon Action: Overloaded Attack. If a number or hit pattern is present in the Overload effect area of a weapon, you can perform an Overloaded Attack action.
Performing an Overloaded Attack action is similar to a normal Attack action, but with the following differences:
- You must pay the cost of performing the Overloaded Attack action instead of the normal cost (the number of action points remains unchanged).
- You must roll a Fate die to determine whether the weapon is damaged by the action. For each symbol you obtain, place a red cube (Break marker) on the weapon. If you break the weapon, perform the action anyway, then flip the weapon on the broken side.
Then:
- If the Overload effect is a number, you will deal this amount of damage instead of the normal amount.
- If the Overload effect is a hit pattern, this pattern must be used instead of the normal pattern.
- If the Overload area contains the words "Extra Attack", perform an attack with the normal pattern and damage, then you may perform a second attack immediately after the first without paying any further cost or rolling a Fate die. This attack may target any enemy still within the hit pattern.
- If the Overload area contains the words "Blue die", use the blue scout die to attack instead of the standard scout die.
All other rules remain unchanged.
Weapon Action: Repair. Repairing a weapon follows the same rules as repairing a lantern (see section: Lantern Action: Repair).
Lands and Land Actions
In Sheol, lands are 2x2 tiles that represent outposts, structures, and other general points of interest. Each land has a corresponding Land card and two Exploration cards (see section: Land Action: Explore).
Land Tiles. Lands have some fields that are described here: the land name, the land code, and the land type. There are three types of land: the Twilight Lands, the Forgotten Lands, and the Shadow Lands.
When a scout is on a land which is connected to the scout starting point (usually the Citadel), and there are no enemies or coralbone obstacles on the tile, they can perform a Discover action.
Land Action: Discover. Lands may be discovered to unlock new actions on them and uncover the secrets of Sheol.
To perform a Discover action:
- You must be on the land;
- The land must be connected to the Citadel;
- There must not be enemies or coralbone obstacles on the tile;
Then:
- Pay one action point;
- Flip the land tile on the front;
- Find the corresponding card in the Land deck by looking for the land code located on the top right corner of the land tile.
- The scout who made the discovery then reads the flavor text on the front of the Land card.
- Place the card to the side of the main board.
- Take a district token from a Malfunction card or, if there are no Malfunction cards, from a Technology card with still district tokens. If there are no Technology or Malfunction cards, take any district token.
- Place the district token on the land card corner.
Land Cards. A land card is always connected to a land tile and allows scouts to perform various actions. These actions, however, are limited, and each time you perform one, you have to put a black marker on the action spot. Once an action is covered with a black marker, it cannot be performed anymore on that land.
From now the land actions on that land are available. Also, the Malfunction or Technology card where you took the district miniature/token is now active and you must apply its effects during the mission.
If a land tile is discarded in any way, you have to discard also the respective land card and put the District token back on the Citadel board.
Land Action: Build. Various facilities can be built on a land. The maximum number of facilities scouts can build on each discovered land depends on the spots on the land card. For example, if you have 2 spots like the card in the image, you can build 2 different facilities.
You can always build a max of 1 facility per type on each land.
To perform a Build action:
- You must be on the land;
Then:
- Pay one action point;
- Discard 3 cards from your hand or from the top of your deck (see section: Discard Lightshields);
- Put a black marker on the Build action spot;
- Then, choose a facility from among those which are available, take the respective facility token and place it below your scout, unless it already contains a facility. In that case place it in any unoccupied space of the land. The facility is now active.
Facilities. There are a total of six types of facility in Sheol. Three are obtained by progressing through the main campaign and three are unlocked by enough faction alignment points.
When you unlock a facility the respective tile is placed on the right of the Citadel board.
To unlock a facility associated with a district, simply build the relevant district during the Development phase (see section: Development Phase).
A facility tile is divided into: the facility name, the unique icon of the facility, and the effect a facility provides to the players. On the back of the tile is described the effect.
Facilities are divided into passive facilities, that are activated during specific moments or during the production sub-phase, and facilities that it is possible to activate with the respective action.
If a shadow enters a space occupied by a facility, it is deactivated and cannot be used until the shadow leaves the space. Shadows cannot destroy facilities, unless the entire land tile is destroyed.
Land Action (Free): Activate Facility. The CLEU Cannon and Scout Tower facilities have an active effect that can be used once per turn.
To perform an Activate Facility action:
- You must be connected to the land (and the facility) by the Lightstream;
- There must not be enemies or obstacles over the facility;
- The facility must not be on the reload side;
Then:
- Flip the facility token to the "reload" side;
- Apply the effect.
The tiles are returned to the "ready" side during the relevant Scout sub-phase.
Land Action: Explore. If you are on a land tile, you have the opportunity to investigate it further.
To perform an Explore action:
- You must be on the land;
Then:
- Pay one action point;
- Discard 2 cards from your hand or from the top of your deck (see section: Discard Lightshields);
- Put a black marker on the Explore action spot.
- Search the Exploration deck for the right Exploration card. Each land has two associated Exploration cards. Exploration cards have a flag icon with a letter (A or B) on the top and a title. Also, they have a unique code, that corresponds to the land number. Always take the card with the letter A first.
- Give the card to another player. That player then reads the Exploration card aloud and presents the active player with the choice on the card, without showing the back of the card.
- Make the choice and resolve the effect on the back of the card.
- Put the card back in the box in the exhausted exploration area of the organizer.
Many of these choices will present the player with a Challenge (see next section). If so, the active player may be informed of the details of the challenge before making their decision, but the consequences must not be revealed to them still. If playing solo, do not look at the back of the card before making your choice or resolving any Challenges.
The choices could have either positive or negative consequences for both yourself and, in some cases, the entire team, but completing an Explore action always rewards you with a Faction Alignment point. These choices have lasting consequences for the rest of the campaign.
If there are no more Exploration cards available for a land, instead draw a Point of Interest mission card and make it available for everyone.
Challenges. The player to the right locates the required card in the Exploration deck. Several Mission and Exploration cards ask players to overcome a challenge. A challenge involves rolling two Fate dice in order to obtain a number of successes equal to or greater than the target number. For each archetype the scout has in common with the challenge, automatically add 1 success to the result.
Challenges always have a success and a failure result, and the effects are applied immediately. As the consequences of your choices are permanent, it is only possible to attempt a Challenge once.
Example: The Exploration card in this image has a Challenge with a target number of 4, with the archetypes of Camouflage and Brightness. This Challenge is optional, and is only attempted if choosing option 2. The consequences of success and failure are written on the reverse of the card.
Obtain Alignment Points. Exploration cards are the main way to obtain Faction Alignment points. Each time during a mission you obtain one, you have to put a blue cube on the respective faction area over the Citadel Plateau board. At the end of the mission you will convert these cubes into marks on the Alignment table on the mission manual. The faction areas are: Luminary Area, Engineers Area, and Exiled Area.
Land Action: Cure Corruption. Scouts may gain corruption due to damage or effects (see section: Corruption). With this action you can remove corruption and cure your scout.
To perform a Cure corruption action:
- You must be on the land;
Then:
- Pay one action point;
- Discard 2 cards from your hand or from the top of your deck (see section: Discard Lightshields);
- Put a black marker on the Cure corruption action spot.
- Remove a number of corruption points as stated on the right part of the action (2 in the image) from your scout. To do so, revert the color of the vial cubes from red to blue (see section: Corruption).
Land Action: Obtain Shield. Scouts on some lands could obtain some shield points to fight the shadows.
To perform an Obtain Shield action:
- You must be on the land;
Then:
- Pay one action point;
- Discard 3 cards from your hand or from the top of your deck (see section: Discard Lightshields);
- Put a black marker on the Obtain Shield action spot.
- Place a number of shield markers (blue cubes) on the scout card as stated on the right part of the action.
Land Action: Deploy Printer. In Sheol, technology has advanced to the point where items are no longer manufactured, but fabricated by way of special Printers. Lands connected to the Citadel will provide the scout with projects that could later be printed.
To perform a Deploy Printer action:
- You must be on the land;
- The land must be connected to the Citadel.
Then:
- Pay one action point;
- Discard 2 cards from your hand or from the top of your deck (see section: Discard Lightshields);
- Put a black marker on the Obtain Shield action spot.
- Take the Item deck on the Citadel board and start revealing cards until you reveal x cards with the same land symbol as the land you performed the action, as x is the number on the right part of the action. Place them in the respective spaces above the Citadel board. If there is not enough space above the board, discard existing cards until you have enough space.
These cards are now available for print by all the scouts for the rest of the mission. If an item is printed by a scout, do not draw another card to replace it.
Printer Items
The items, which can be printed with the respective Citadel action, can be used to give scouts access to gameplay effects that would not be possible, or can be attached to pieces of equipment to upgrade their stats.
An Item card is laid out as follows:
- The Umbra cost of printing the item.
- The phase during which you can use the item: either blue for the Scout phase, red for the Shadow phase or both.
- The item name.
- The item effect. This could be an instant effect or permanent effect.
- The level of the item: One or two.
- The respective land type.
All the items in the inventories are kept when the mission finishes.
Citadel Actions
Scouts inside the Citadel or connected to it may perform some actions.
Citadel Action (Free): Print Item. Once the Printer for a land has been deployed and some print projects are sent to the Citadel, scout can print them using this action.
To perform a Print item action:
- You must be connected to the Citadel;
Then:
- Choose an item to print and pay the correct amount of Umbra stated on the item. Umbra will go back in the dispenser.
- Take the item and put it in your inventory.
You can now use it with the Use item action.
Citadel Action: Cure Corruption. This action is similar to the respective land action. The only changes are:
- You must be inside the Citadel to perform this action
- The cards discarded are 4.
- You cure 4 corruption.
This action can be performed 3 times per mission, because there are 2 spots on the Citadel plateau board.
Citadel Action (Free): Deposit/Retrieve Umbra. Acquired Umbra normally goes to the scout's inventory, but it could happen that the inventories are full and you want to deposit or retrieve some Umbra in the Citadel.
To perform a Deposit/Retrieve Umbra action:
- You must be inside the Citadel;
Then:
- Discard 2 cards from your hand or from the top of your deck (see section: Discard Lightshields);
- Put a black marker on the Deposit/Retrieve Umbra action spot.
- Move up to 4 Umbra between your inventory and the deposit on the Citadel board.
This action can be performed 2 times per mission, because there are 2 spots on the Citadel plateau board.
Umbra in the Citadel deposit cannot be spent by scout until it's in their inventories.
Technology Cards. Technology cards are obtained each time you reach certain levels on the Faction alignment board. They are placed on the spaces of the Citadel board.
The Technology card is laid out as follows: the Technology level, the Technology name, the phase during which you can use the Technology (either blue for the Scout phase, red for the Shadow phase or both), and the effect that triggers when you use the Technology by removing one charge, or the passive one that always applies. It also shows the charge indicator and the respective number of blue cubes (Charge markers).
Some districts have an active ability that can be used during a mission, and therefore feature a charge indicator. At the start of a mission, put a number of blue cubes (Charge markers) on the district equal to the number of charges highlighted in blue on the charge indicator.
Other Technologies have passive effects and do not feature a charge indicator. These abilities are applied at all times during the mission, and do not require an action to be performed.
All the effects are not active until they are unlocked by a discovery.
Malfunction Cards. Malfunction cards are basically negative Technology cards. Their effects are always unlocked before a Technology during a discovery. Some Malfunction cards have counters; put the right number of red cubes (Charge markers) on them when you unlock them and remove 1 Charge marker each time you activate them.
Citadel Action (Free): Use Technology. An active Technology can be used by any scout at any time during the phase specified on the card.
To perform a Use Technology action:
- You must be connected to the Citadel.
Then:
- Remove a Charge marker from the technology you want to activate;
- Apply the effect of the technology.
Using technologies is considered a free action, but if the technology runs out of charges you cannot perform this action. Passive technologies are always activated when unlocked with a Discover action.
Other Actions
Action (Free): Use Item. An item can be used at any time during the phase specified on the card simply by following the directions written on it.
To perform a Use Item action:
- Apply the effect of the item.
- Discard the item back to the bottom of the items deck.
Using items is therefore considered a free action, but it is important to note that there are some items which specify a cost, and of these some might require that cost to be paid in action points, among other things.
Accessories. Like items, accessories give scouts access to gameplay effects that would not be possible otherwise. However, there are some ways in which accessories differ from items.
Accessories are obtained during the Development phase. A scout can only be equipped with one accessory and only at the start of a mission, when it should be placed near your weapon or lantern. At this time, put a number of blue cubes (Charge markers) on the accessory equal to the number of charges highlighted in blue on the charge indicator.
The Accessory card is laid out as follows:
- The charge indicator and the respective number of charges: One charge, Two charges, Three charges.
- The accessory name.
- The effect that triggers when you use the accessory by removing one charge.
- The accessory level.
- The faction icon.
- The gained Shield at the beginning of each Scout phase.
NOTE: Unlike weapons and lanterns, accessories have no archetypes associated with them and cannot be broken.
Shield from Accessories. Some accessories grant you shield (see section: Shield) during the Refill Lightshield sub-phase. Each turn you get the amount of shield stated on the accessory card.
Action (Free): Use Accessory. An accessory can be used at any time, including during the Shadow phase. Remove a Charge marker and immediately apply the effect written on it. Using accessories is considered a free action, but if it runs out of charges you cannot perform this action.
Action (Free): Exchange Items and Umbra. Anytime during the Scout actions sub-phase, if two scouts are adjacent to each other, or are both inside the Citadel, they can freely exchange Umbra tokens and the Printer items they are carrying.
Lux, weapons, lanterns and accessories cannot be exchanged in this way.
Action (Free): Discard from Inventory. You can discard any item, lightstream or Umbra from your inventory anytime as a free action.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: when a Servodroid is performing an action with a Lux cost, any scout can choose to spend their own Lux points instead of those of the Servodroid.
Using Lightshields
Correct use of Lightshield cards is key to success when completing mission objectives in Sheol. Each scout starts their first mission with 13 Lightshield cards that represent their unique skills. This number will increase as they progress through the campaign, unless specified on the card. In general, new Lightshield cards can be added to the deck as the scouts progress through the campaign (see section: Development Phase).
With the exception of special Lightshield cards (see section: Special Lightshield Cards), each Lightshield card has the following structure:
- The Lightshield name.
- The primary effect.
- The alternate effect.
- The phase during which you can use the Lightshield: either blue for the Scout phase, red for the Shadow phase or both.
- The Lightshield level.
- The scout symbol or the faction symbol.
- On the back, there is a shield that represents the damage reduction.
Lightshield Effects
A Lightshield card has three main uses:
- a primary effect;
- an alternate effect;
- a damage reduction.
Playing a Lightshield card does not cost Lux, Umbra, or actions.
Primary Effects. Typically, the primary Lightshield effects can be subdivided into four types:
- Free actions that apply an instant effect when played during the phase indicated on the card.
- Action modifiers that are played while performing a specific action to alter the outcome.
- Special actions that allow the scout to perform unique actions by spending an action cost.
- Support actions that are played during another scout's action in order to help them to complete it.
When to use each Lightshield card's primary effect and how much it costs is always specified in the center of the card.
Alternate Effects. The alternate effect is located in the top left part of the card. This is usually a discount on the cost of an action, and is related to the scout's archetypes. Discounts on actions must be played while the action is being performed. The possible alternate effects are:
- -1 Lux cost on a Plan action (not Overloaded).
- -1 Lux cost on a Reveal action (not Overloaded).
- -1 Lux cost on an Attack action (not Overloaded).
- -1 Lux cost on any Overloaded action.
- -1 Lux cost for increased movement purchase.
- -1 Lux cost on an action performed by another scout. This discount can't be applied to a purchase of an additional Movement. Scout does not need to be connected to you via lightstream to take advantage of this discount.
- -1 Umbra cost on any type of action (except the Print item action).
- During the Scout phase, you may discard this Lightshield card and draw another Lightshield card.
Damage Reduction. When you receive damage from enemy attacks or card effects you lose Lux, but you can discard one or more Lightshield cards in order to block 1 damage per card discarded.
Lightshield Usage Limits
In general, free actions, support and special actions granted by Lightshield cards have no usage limits. Instead, Lightshield action modifiers that are played while performing a specific action are limited to two: one with a primary effect and another with an alternate effect (usually a discount).
Example: it's possible to use a "Dancer in the Dark" and a "Weapons Specialist" card together: the first to roll one extra Scout die during the attack, and the second to gain a 1 Lux discount on that action.
Discard Lightshield Cards
Each time an effect or a cost (like Land actions) says to discard lightshield cards, unless it clearly says to discard the card from the hand, you can always choose:
- to discard from the hand
- to discard from the top of the deck.
When you discard, you don't draw, so any drawing effect is not applied.
Special Lightshield Cards
Each scout has a special Lightshield card in their deck that represents an extremely strong ability. These cards work like other Lightshield cards, but they don't have an alternate effect, and scale their power according to the Citadel level, which in turn affects the mission level. In fact, there are three levels below the primary effect text of the card.
You can apply any one of the effects on the card up to and including the one with the same level or below as the current Citadel level.
In this way, scouts can only access the lowest ability early on in the campaign, but any of the listed abilities toward the end of the campaign. Completing the Scout missions (see the Mission Manual), awards you with another special Lightshield card, unique to each scout.
NOTE: In the appendix of the rulebook you'll find all scout Lightshield cards with a detailed explanation of their effects.
Example: The Pioneer has the "Lightstream Repositioning" Lightshield card in hand and has to choose how to use it. His first option is to use the primary effect of the card and reposition the Lightstream tile, moving it from the space in front of the blip to the space near the land, so he can move and reach it. His second option is to use the alternate effect of the Lightshield instead and perform a Reveal action on the blip with a Lux discount of 1. As the Night Digger Reveal cost is 1, he will not pay any Lux to perform the action.
Status Cards
Status cards are a specific type of Lightshield card that could influence you positively or negatively. These cards may be added to your Lightshield deck by various game effects.
There are 3 kinds of Status cards:
- Negative status cards: These cards usually trigger the effects written on them when they are drawn from your Lightshield deck and put into your hand.
- Heavy negative status cards: Same as the negative status cards, but worse.
- Positive status cards: good statuses you can gain during the game.
Getting a Status Card. When an effect says to draw a status of any kind, you have to shuffle it into your lightshield deck. The status will remain in your deck until removed by an effect or during the Development phase.
At the beginning of the Development phase, for each 4 different negative status cards you have in the Lightshield deck, you have to remove them and put into the deck a heavy negative status card.
Remove Status Cards. Negative and heavy negative status cards can be removed during the Development phase with the respective action. Effects or some positive status cards could also remove these cards from the deck. When a status card is removed it goes back in the box.
Positive status cards are removed from the game when used.
Refill Lightshield and Depletion
During the Refill Lightshield sub-phase of the Scout phase, you may discard a single Lightshield card before refilling your hand of cards to its limit.
If the Lightshield deck is empty at any time during the game and you cannot draw (or discard from the deck) further cards, you have to:
- Get 1 corruption;
- Do a corruption check (see section: Corruption);
- Shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.
If you still have to draw or discard cards, do it from the new pile.
Lightshield Hand and Deck Limits
Each scout has a precise hand limit of Lightshield cards they can hold at the same time. If at any time during a mission you go over that limit, you have to discard the exceeding cards, choosing them among the ones in your hand.
Lightshield decks also have limits; there is a precise limits check phase during the beginning of the Development phase.
Servodroid Lightshields
If you play with less than 4 scouts, you will have in your deck one or more servodroid lightshield cards. These cards work like other Lightshield cards, but they have a servodroid icon on the back. Also:
- You can use these cards only to parry damage to servodroids.
- You can apply their effects only to servodroids.
Status Cards and Servodroids. Servodroids don't have a dedicated lightshield deck, so they can't get statuses. Instead:
- Each time they should get a negative (or heavy negative) status, they get 1 Corruption.
- Each time they should get a positive status, they cure 1 corruption.
Damage and Corruption
In the world of Sheol, as the scouts suffer the influence of the shadows, it will begin to have physical and psychological effects on them.
Getting Damage
In Sheol your main indicator for the health of your scout is the Lux vial over the lux board. The Lux represents your life points (as well as points you'll use to activate skills) during missions.
Each time an enemy attack or an effect deals you damage, for each point of damage you have to decide:
- To lose a lux point
OR
- To get one corruption.
You can also split these. For example, if an enemy deals you 2 damage, you can lose 1 lux and gain 1 corruption. Remember you can parry damage thanks to effects, lightshield cards or shields.
Getting Corruption
Each time an effect says to get a corruption, or you get it due to damage, for each point of corruption, you have to change the color of a blue cube of your lux vial to red.
The amount of red cubes you have on your vial is the amount of corruption your scout has.
Also, you always get 1 point of corruption:
- If you finish your lightshield deck and you have to shuffle a new pile;
- Each time you finish a lux vial and you have to change it;
- Each time you finish a turn on a dark space of the main board.
Changing Vials
When a Lux vial reaches zero, if it is not the last vial (as in, the vial number is 1), decrease the vial number by 1 and fill the Lux track to the maximum of 8. If the reduction in Lux exceeds the amount of Lux remaining in the first vial, the cost will have to be paid in full, thus continue to spend the remaining amount from the new vial.
During the game, if you gain Lux and you exceed the maximum of 8 for your current vial, the vial number will not increase and the additional Lux is lost.
If the Lux reaches zero and it's your last vial, you are corrupted (see section: Complete Corruption).
Corruption Check
You have to perform a corruption check:
- Each time you finish a lux vial and you have to change it;
- Each time you finish a turn on a dark space of the main board.
To perform a corruption check:
- Throw 2 Fate dice;
- Sum the result to your current corruption (red cubes);
- if the total is equal to or exceeds your Corruption threshold you are completely corrupted and you must add to your deck a random Heavy negative status card.
Complete Corruption
If a scout is exposed for too long or pushed too far, they will succumb to a state of complete corruption. When a scout meets one of these conditions:
- Fails a Corruption check
- Finishes the last vial
- Has all the lux red.
...they enter a state of complete corruption, or simply, corruption.
In this case:
- if you just failed the corruption test (only in this case) you must add to your deck a random Heavy negative status card.
- Remove the lux vial counter from the board.
- Fill the vial with 8 red cubes.
- Discard any shield, if you have.
- Flip your scout card to the corrupted side.
If you reached this condition due to damage, ignore any additional damage.
Now this is your last "grace" vial. If your Lux reaches zero again, your scout dies.
Complete Corruption Effects
Therefore, a corrupted scout only has 8 more Lux points to spend before dying, but they also gain advantages and modifiers that make them much stronger.
The positive effects of corruption are as follows:
- The scout gains an alternate critical hit effect, as indicated on the corrupted side of their Scout card.
- The Overloaded Reveal and Overloaded Attack action can be performed without damaging the lantern/weapon or paying the Lux cost (any Umbra cost must still be paid).
- Movement into dark spaces only costs 1 movement point, instead of 2.
The negative effects are as follows:
- The scout's Lightshield hand size limit and movement value are both reduced by 1, as indicated on the corrupted side of their Scout card.
- Each time you should get a corruption point (this also applies when you finish your lightshield deck), you instead lose 1 Lux.
- No type of Plan action may be performed.
- Lightstream tiles cannot be placed for any reason.
- You can't gain or have shield.
Lux can be regained, but you can't leave corruption unless you use specific items or effects. You also can't cure corruption until you are in complete corruption.
Corruption as an Effect
If a Lightshield card or an effect tells you to apply corruption bonuses as though you were corrupted, simply flip your Scout card until the effect ends. In this case, you gain the benefit of all positive corruption effects without having to suffer any of the negative effects.
Shield
There are some effects or items that could make you gain shield points (called simply shield). Each time you gain 1 shield, you have to place 1 blue cube (shield marker) on your scout card.
For each point of damage you get, you have to discard 1 shield marker instead of choosing to lose 1 Lux or get 1 corruption.
Example: if an enemy deals 3 damage to you and you have 2 shields, then you discard the 2 shields and then decide how to take the rest of the damage.
Shield maximum is the same maximum of Lightshield cards you can have in hand. It's stated on the top of the scout card.
Durability Markers
Durability markers are similar to shield, but they are applied to weapons and lanterns.
There are some effects that could add Durability markers (blue cubes) on equipment. These Durability markers increase the durability value of a piece of your equipment. Each time your equipment should receive one point of damage, instead remove one durability marker.
The number of durability markers on a weapon or lantern can't exceed their durability.
Death of a Scout
A scout is defeated when their Lux track falls to zero while they are corrupted.
The scout's miniature is removed from the board, and the mission ends for that player. However, in Sheol, the defeat of an individual scout does not necessarily mean defeat for the entire team and the mission could continue until more than half of the Scouts (not servodroids) are defeated.
If a mission succeeds but there are some scout casualties, all scouts who were defeated have to shuffle 1 random heavy negative Status card and 1 Wound Status card into their Lightshield deck before proceeding to the Development phase.
Servodroid Corruption and Defeat
Corruption. Servodroids can gain corruption (red cubes), but can't go to Complete corruption. They also don't perform any corruption checks, because they don't change vial and don't have a dedicated Lightshield deck.
Defeat. A Servodroid is defeated when:
- its Lux points fall to zero.
- All its lux is corrupted (red)
The Servodroid's miniature is removed from the board. Even if all the Servodroids are defeated, but the scouts are still alive, the mission can continue.
If a mission succeeds but there are some Servodroid casualties, you will have to pay 2 Umbra to repair the servodroid (see section: Development Phase).
NOTE: Servodroids count as scouts for effects that use the keyword "Scout".
Inventory
Above the Lux board is located the inventory. It starts empty, but later during missions and the campaign you will place here items (max 1 for each slot), Umbra (max 2 for each slot) and lightstream tiles (max 2 for each slot).
You cannot exceed your slots or acquire additional elements to place in your inventory if it's full.
Anytime you can discard any element from your inventory as a free action.
All the items and umbra in the inventories are kept when the mission finishes.
Gain and Divide Resources
During the production sub-phase or due to effects you may gain some Umbra, Lux or items.
Gain from Facilities. Any scout connected to the facility via the Lightstream can claim the materials produced, agreeing how to split it between them.
If no scout is connected to the land but the land is connected to the Citadel (or if the players choose to do so), then the materials can be deposited at the Citadel by placing them on the Citadel board. Lux can't be deposited in the Citadel.
If the land is not connected to any scout or to the Citadel (or if the players choose to do so) the materials produced are deposited on any space of the land instead. Use blue cubes to deposit Lux.
Materials deposited at locations in this way can be freely collected by players whenever they visit the respective space.
Gain from Effects. When a scout gains from an effect, for example gaining 1 Umbra killing a revealed shadow or acquiring a lightstream with a Plan action, the scout is the target of that gain and must get it.
If they have not enough space in the inventory, they may decide to discard something to free space before gaining the new Umbra/lightstream/item.
In this case if there is not enough space in the inventory, the element is lost.
Ending the Mission
Each game of Sheol will result in victory or defeat for the scouts. Defeat means repeating the failed mission. Victory leads to the Development phase, before advancing to the next mission.
Mission Defeat
The mission is lost if any of the following conditions are met:
- The Threat track would exceed the death Token.
- More than half of the scouts (not Servodroids) are defeated.
- The Prosperity points of the Citadel fall to zero.
- The objective has not been achieved, and the Mission card reports "Defeat".
If you were defeated, you can either decide to proceed to the next mission, or retry the mission. Story-wise, it's recommended to retry the mission, but if you want to proceed restore the Citadel Prosperity to 5 (if they are less than five), discard all Umbra in the Citadel and inventories, and shuffle a wound in the deck of each scout. Then read the next section.
Victory
The mission is successfully complete if no defeat condition has been met and the objective on the Mission card declaring "Victory" has been accomplished.
In case of Victory, don't discard everything on the table, but follow the next steps before going to the Development phase.
Mission Conclusion
Before proceeding to the development phase, you have to follow some steps to properly conclude the mission and keep everything in order for the development phase. Follow these steps:
- Take the mission plateau board, keeping all the cubes (prosperity and align points) that are on it and put it aside.
- Return all the scout miniatures to your scout boards.
- Remove all the components on the main board (land tiles, obstacles, lightstream tiles, enemies...) and return them to their slots in the organizer.
- Remove the Enemy board (just note the ending turn) and all its components and put them back in their slots in the organizer.
- Put all the District tokens from the land cards and put them back on the Citadel board technology slots.
- Put back in the deck all the displayed land cards and place the deck in the organizer.
- Put back in the box organizer also the displayed lightstream tiles, the Exploration deck, the Reward deck, the Point of Interest deck, the status deck and the Mission deck.
Then, for each scout and Servodroid board:
- Discard all lightstream tiles that are in the inventory and put them in the box dispenser.
- Take all the Lightshield cards still in hand or discarded and shuffle them back to the deck (skip this step for Servodroids).
- Count all the Negative status cards you have. For each 3 Negative status, remove them randomly and put inside the deck a Heavy negative status card.
- Discard all the durability/break markers and flip the broken weapons and lanterns on their standard side.
- Discard all the shield markers from the scout card.
- If the Scout was in complete corruption, discard all the Lux from the board.
- Take all the umbra from the inventory and put it on the respective space on the Citadel board. Ignore the limit.
Now you should have on the table only the scout boards, the Citadel board, and the Citadel plateau board. So:
- Take the mission manual and open it to the respective mission conclusion.
- Read the story conclusion and the optional info boxes.
- Look at the table and depending on the difficulty you played, get the right number of Umbra and add it to the Citadel reserve.
- Read and apply (if present) the mission unlocks.
Now you are ready to go to the Development phase.
Development Phase
In Sheol, after completing a mission, your scout group returns to the Citadel, and the Development phase begins. In this phase, you must make decisions together to improve your equipment, receive training, tend wounds, and improve the Printer and districts of the Citadel.
NOTE: There is no Development phase after the Scout missions.
Setup
To begin the Development phase, first you have to assign your alignment points to the various factions. To do it:
- Open the mission manual at the page where there is the faction alignment table.
- Remove the blue cubes (alignment point) from the Citadel plateau board, count them and mark the same amount of cells in each column of the table.
- Reclaim the rewards, if some, on the table (see section: Alignment rewards).
- Gain all the passive incomes.
- Open the mission manual at the page where there is the development tree.
Development Structure
All Umbra you acquired before will be used during this phase. You will spend your Umbra to:
- Unlock a new box.
- Perform an action in a box.
All the actions you can perform during this phase are stated on the tree.
This is also a good moment to save the game (see section: Saving and Loading the game).
Tree Structure. The tree is divided in 3 tiers, corresponding to the 3 mission levels, divided by a dotted line. Each tier has a series of District boxes.
All boxes are connected and locked. Initially you can only unlock the Scout Headquarters, then you can unlock all the boxes connected to the Scout Headquarters, and so on. To unlock the last box of the tier, Canal District, you must unlock before a box connected to it. To proceed to the second tier, you must have unlocked the Canal District, and you must have completed mission 5 of the main campaign. To access the last tier, instead, you must have unlocked the Pivot, and you must have completed mission 9 of the main campaign.
Box Structure. Each box is divided in: the District box title, the Unlock cost, a little box to mark once the District box is unlocked, the immediate reward when you unlock the box, and the actions available.
Unlock a New Box. To unlock a new box, first:
- Check that the previous boxes are unlocked.
- Check that the tier is unlocked.
Then:
- Pay the correct amount of Umbra (putting it back into the reserve).
- Mark with a pencil the little box on the top, to remember that you unlocked the box.
- Gain the immediate reward, splitting it among Scouts.
Now you can use the actions of the box.
Boxes can only be unlocked 1 time and the unlock is permanent for all the campaign.
Usually when you unlock a box, you also gain 1 or more alignment points that you have to mark on the Alignment table to claim the respective rewards (see section: Alignment rewards).
Perform an Action in a Box. Once the box is unlocked, players decide between them which actions to perform, and who will perform them, in any order they choose. In general actions should be played as common agreement.
To perform an action simply:
- Pay the respective cost (if any)
- Apply the effect.
Actions may be performed any number of times (until you have the Umbra to pay them), except some free actions that are limited to 1 for each Development phase.
Development Actions in Detail
The different actions you can perform are detailed in the following sections.
Scouts Headquarters. This District is mainly used to recharge Scout Lux vials.
For each 1 Umbra spent, you gain 4 Lux. Lux can be split among scouts and it's used to recharge the vials for the next mission. You regain also corrupted Lux in this way, without changing its color.
You can regain Lux until you fill up the max number of vials available for each scout.
In general, during the development phase, you can move/exchange Lux from a scout to another. This does not apply to corruption (red Lux).
Refugee District. For each 1 Umbra spent, cure 2 corruption. Cured corrupted Lux that was out of the vial is not put back in the vial until you gain Lux.
Pay the Umbra on the top of any Negative Status or Heavy Negative status card to remove the status from your deck and put it back in the box.
Plateau Mines. Damage the Citadel receives carries over from one mission to the next. Pay 4 Umbra to restore 1 Prosperity point of the Citadel. You can't exceed the maximum Prosperity points of the Citadel.
Inferior Chapels. Take all the level 1 Weapons (except corrupted) and Lanterns of the Luminary faction and shuffle the deck. If you had organized the components, you should already have the deck ready.
Only 1 time per Development phase, you can reveal 2 cards and place them on the table to form a display. You can pay 1 Umbra to reveal 2 additional cards.
Cards displayed can be purchased by scouts paying 4 Umbra each. All equipment purchased in this way will remain property of the party and can be equipped by any scout that shares at least one archetype with the Weapon or Lantern. This also applies to starting equipment, that is always kept. To know where to put the equipment that is not currently in use see section: Saving the game.
Column District. Only 1 time per Development phase you can perform this action. When you do:
- Take the Citadel Exploration deck out of the box.
- Choose a Scout to make the exploration.
- Draw the card with the lowest number available and resolve it just as you would an Exploration card (see section: Land Action: Explore).
- Apply the effect on the back to the Scout that solved it.
- Put the card back in the box in the exhausted exploration area of the organizer.
Unlike Explore actions (which reward players with Faction Alignment points), these events will apply effects to either the scout performing the action or to the next mission instead.
Electrorift District. Take all the level 1 accessories and shuffle the deck. If you had organized the components, you should already have the deck ready.
Only 1 time per Development phase, you can reveal 3 cards and place them on the table to form a display. You can pay 2 Umbra to reveal 2 additional cards.
Cards displayed can be purchased by scouts paying 4 Umbra each. All equipment purchased in this way will remain property of the party and can be equipped by any scout. To know where to put the equipment that is not currently in use see section: Saving the game.
Colossal Forge. Like Inferior Chapels, but you have to reveal and purchase Engineers cards.
Scavengers' Trading Posts. Like Inferior Chapels, but you have to reveal and purchase Exiled cards.
Slum Market. Every item has a corresponding upgraded version that can either be added to the same deck or replace it within that deck.
Take the level 2 Printer items corresponding to Forgotten and Twilight lands (check the icon on the top) and shuffle the deck. Only 1 time per Development phase, you can reveal 3 cards and place them on the table to form a display.
Cards displayed can be purchased by scouts paying 4 Umbra each. Now you have to decide whether to add each item to the Item deck in addition to their level 1 version, or if you would rather replace the base item in the deck instead. Once this decision has been made it is irreversible for the remainder of the campaign.
Canal District. Between missions, scouts undergo intense training in order to hone their abilities. Abilities are represented by Lightshield cards. Take all the level 1 Advanced action cards and shuffle the deck. If you had organized the components, you should already have the deck ready.
Only 1 time per Development phase, you can reveal 2 cards and place them on the table to form a display. You can pay 1 Umbra to reveal 2 additional cards.
Cards displayed can be purchased by scouts paying 3 Umbra each. If an Advanced action is purchased, it should be immediately assigned to a scout that shares at least one archetype with it. The Scout adds it to their Lightshield deck.
All Lightshields purchased in this way will remain in the scout's Lightshield deck until the end of the campaign.
Unlocking this district also raises the maximum number of not-status lightshield cards in your deck to 15.
Vertical Prison. When you unlock this box you don't unlock any new action, but you can now embark on 2 scout missions of your choice.
Upside-down District. Like Slum Market, but you have to reveal level 2 items related to Shadow lands.
Monumental Mound. Like Refugee District but it cures 3 corruption with 1 Umbra and removing negative and Heavy negative status cards costs 1 Umbra less.
Immolates' Basilica / Luminaries' Monastery. Like Inferior Chapels, but with level 2 or level 3 Weapons and Lanterns.
Terrace District / Lantern Square. Like Electrorift District, but with level 2 Accessories or level 3 Accessories.
Source of Knowledge / Flower District. Like Inferior Chapels, but with level 2 or level 3 Engineers Weapons and Lanterns.
Techmaze / High Castles. Like Inferior Chapels, but with level 2 or level 3 Exiled Weapons and Lanterns.
Technologists' District. You can sell any unequipped Weapon or Lantern for 2, 4 or 6 Umbra, depending on the level. Starting weapons and lanterns can't be sold.
The Pivot / The Spire. Like Canal District, but with level 2 and level 3 Advanced actions.
Unlocking these districts also raises the maximum number of not-status lightshield cards in your deck respectively to 17 and 20.
Guardians' Statues. You can pay 4 Umbra to draw any random positive status and add it to the deck of a Scout. A scout can't have 2 identical positive status cards in this way.
Servodroid Districts
If you are playing with Servodroids, during the Development phase you can unlock specific Servodroid District boxes.
These Districts will allow you to unlock and play with more powerful versions of the Core of the droids. The unlocked cores are specified in the boxes.
Lux Foundries. When you unlock this box you unlock 2 new additional cores: The Balanced core and Defensive Core.
If you have a destroyed servodroid, because it was defeated, paying 2 Umbra you can repair it. It has now 1 Lux. If it has any corruption, you must cure it with the appropriate action.
Automated Factories. When you unlock this box you don't unlock any new action, but you can now equip 2 new additional cores: Fragile core and Dark Core.
Colosseum. When you unlock this box you don't unlock any new action, but you can now equip 2 new additional cores: Tank core, Glowing core and Perfect core.
Changing Cores. During the development phase you may change any core of the servodroids you have with another that you have unlocked. When you do this, you have to align the servodroid max lux and equipment to the new Core.
You can't keep unlocked equipment that doesn't share the correct core archetypes.
Any lost or corrupted Lux must be cured like the ones of the scouts and it's not regained when you change core.
If you have more Lux than the maximum when you change core, the excess Lux is lost.
Alignment Rewards
Playing missions, completing Explorations and unlocking districts often will grant you Faction Alignment points.
Each time you start the Development phase or gain an Alignment point during the phase, you have to mark it with the pencil on the respective table.
Each time you mark a row with a reward, you must claim that reward. There are different kinds of rewards:
- Resources and statuses
- Passive incomes of Umbra or Lux
- Technologies
- Facilities
- Special Unlocks
Resources and Statuses. Any Lux is divided among scouts. Any Umbra is put in the common reserve. Positive status gained should be assigned to any scout, remembering that a scout can't have 2 identical positive status cards in this way.
Passive Incomes of Umbra or Lux. Any income of Umbra or Lux is gained each time you start a Development phase. You can divide the Lux among scouts, while the Umbra is added to the common reserve.
Technologies. The Citadel Technologies represent the influence the Citadel has over the game board and allows both active and passive effects to be applied to the entire play area.
When you unlock a faction technology of a certain level, get all the Technology cards with that faction and level and show them to all players.
Each card shows two thematically related Technologies, one on each face. Usually, one face offers an active ability that can be used a limited number of times during every mission by performing a Use Technology action, while the other will grant a passive ability which is always available. Unfortunately for the scouts, it is only possible to get one of the versions of each Technology, and once that decision has been made it is irreversible for the remainder of the campaign.
Once you have chosen the Technology that you wish to gain, place the card with the correct face up on the Citadel board, in the next available space on the Technology level.
Facilities. When you unlock a facility the respective tile is placed on the right of the Citadel board. From now on you can build and then use that facility during missions.
Special Unlocks. There are also some special unlocks that grant permanent positive effects that will last for the rest of the campaign. These are:
- Show 6 Lightstream instead of 5 in the display: from now on you can use also the dotted slot on the Citadel board to display Lightstream tiles.
- Scouts start the mission with an additional vial with 4 Lux: as stated, all scouts will start with an additional vial half empty. You can't fill it to full during the development phase, because this vial is added at the end of the development phase.
- Full Heal / Put back in the Team any deceased Scout: Choose a scout and remove all negative and Heavy negative status cards from him/her. If you are playing in Scout mode (see section: Difficulty) and you have additional scouts, you can put back in the team one deceased scout.
- The new scout starts with their starting lantern and weapon, but you can equip them with any equipment according to their archetypes.
- Any acquired advanced lightshield card can't be moved to another lightshield deck. This also applies to the new scout's deck.
- Citadel Max Prosperity is now 15: Now you can raise the Citadel prosperity points to 15 instead of 10. Use violet cubes instead of blue to mark them. Swap back to the blue cube if the number of Prosperity points drops below 11.
- Unlock the Corrupted Weapons: Corrupted weapons are permanently unlocked. See next section.
- Removing a Status costs 1 less Lux: each time you have to pay a Negative or Heavy Negative status card cost to remove it, you pay 1 Umbra less; this sums to eventual other discounts.
- Corrupted Scouts no longer gain negative statuses: as stated, when you get corrupted and you fail a Corruption check, you don't get anymore a Heavy Negative status.
Corrupted Weapons
Corrupted Weapons are a new kind of weaponry that are stronger than standard weapons, but will trigger some negative effects when broken.
Unlock. Corrupted weapons are unlocked when you reach a certain amount of alignment points of the Exiled Faction.
Once these weapons are unlocked, permanently add them to each weapon and lantern deck available for purchase during the development phase. These weapons can now be purchased.
Servodroids cannot equip Corrupted Weapons.
Gameplay. Corrupted weapons are similar to standard weapons with an important exception. Each time a scout performs an attack with a Corrupted Weapon and misses, they have to roll a Fate die and apply the result in Break markers on the weapon.
When the weapon is broken, flip the card as normal, then shuffle an "Out of Control" Status card into the scout's Lightshield deck: the Shadow inside the weapon has now latched on to the scout.
However, it is still possible to attack if a Corrupted Weapon is broken, but you now use the hit pattern and damage value on the back of the card. You cannot Overload this action.
To repair the weapon, you must draw the "Out of Control" Status card from your Lightshield deck and use the effect on yourself.
If your weapon is still broken during the Development phase, you can remove the "Out of Control" Status card from the Lightshield deck as any normal status card.
If you don't repair it, you can't equip other weapons, and you will start the next mission with the weapon broken and the "Out of Control" Status card still in your Lightshield deck.
Ending the Development Phase
When there are no more actions available for players to perform, or you wish to end the phase, the Development phase ends.
This is a good moment to save the game.
Start a New Mission with Umbra and Items. When the development phase ends, you can start a new mission following the same procedure you already did for the previous mission.
Anyway, you can start the new mission bringing up to 2 Umbra (getting them from the reserve) for each scout. Also items you had in your team reserve can be brought to the new mission, putting them in any scout inventory.
All the rest of the equipment, like unused weapons, lanterns or accessories will remain in the team reserve. Use the save organizer to store them (see section: Saving the game).
Start a New Mission with Different Scouts. If you have more than 4 scouts at your disposal, you can decide to start a new mission with a different team. To do that, keep in mind some rules:
- The new scout starts with no Lux. You can purchase it with Umbra, or transfer it to them from another scout.
Saving and Loading the Game
Saving the Game
During the Development phase, you can save the game. To do it:
- Open the mission manual to the "Archives of the Reef" page.
- Under the Scouts Current Status section, mark on the table:
- The number of vials of each scout
- The amount of Lux in the current vial
- The amount of corruption (red cubes)
- If there is any broken corrupted weapon
- Do the same (except the number of vials) for each Servodroid in the respective table, and mark the Servodroid Current core.
- Note the name of the Technologies that you have already unlocked in the table. Remember to write the right side.
- Then you can discard all the cubes from the Lux boards and put them back in the dispensers.
- Take the Save organizer out of the box.
- Put in the back slot the scouts cards and the unlocked, but not equipped, items and equipment.
- Use the rest of the slots to put the Lightshield deck and the current equipment of each Scout/Servodroid.
- Use the slot on the side to put the Umbra you still have in the common pool. Mark it also on the mission manual page.
- Put the unlocked technologies in the small slot.
- Take the Citadel plateau board and count the Citadel prosperity. Mark it in the appropriate table. Then you can put the board and the cubes back in the box.
Once these things have been noted, return all the other components to the box.
You can also use the "Archives of the Reef" page to keep track of the completed missions and the Explorations you did. You can note them in the respective tables.
Loading the Game
To load the game, remove the components from the box and set up the game as normal, with the following adjustments:
- Take the Citadel plateau board and place the correct number of prosperity points on it as noted in the respective table.
- Place the unlocked technologies on the Citadel board, as noted in the respective table.
- Remove the weapons, lanterns and accessories that form the party reserve from the box and place it on the table within reach of all players.
- Find each scout's current weapon, lantern, Lightshields and accessory, as you put in the save organizer slots. Return all of these components to the appropriate player. Do the same for servodroids.
- Take the Lux board and put the correct amount on it of blue and red cubes, as marked on the table.
Starting a Scout Mission
Scout missions are special missions you may unlock during the Development phase. You can think of these missions as little puzzles you may complete to master each scout.
These missions can be played solo or cooperatively, but only the scout after whom the mission is named is used (if other scouts appear, they are considered non-player characters).
To play these missions, you must use the base setup of the scout as described in the table in the "Choose Your Scouts" section. This means you have to use the base weapon and lantern and the 13 Lightshields listed in the table. Each status card you have in the deck is temporarily removed. Make sure to take note of your current build on the save pages in the back of this Manual, so that you can return your scout to their current state afterward.
Citadel level for these missions is always considered 1.
How to Play
Scout missions have some important differences compared to normal missions:
- Only half of the reverse side of the main board is used.
- Take from the box the special additional Lightshield card of the scout you are playing and keep it near the board. You can recognize it because it's the only gold one aside from the special Lightshield card already in the scout's deck. You will add it to your hand when the mission says to do so.
- Remove from the lightshield bag all the lightshield tiles with symbols.
- It's not necessary to set up the Citadel Board, because districts have no effect during scout missions.
- If you go over a Land tile, just flip it to reveal it, but you can't perform any action on the land (Explore, Build...).
- There are no Scout phase and Shadow phase, but only a single phase during which the entire game is played. You can act immediately, unless specified on the Mission cards.
- Shadows do not perform reactions upon reveal and their movement is defined by Mission cards.
- Shadows don't give you umbra when killed.
- Starting Lux, actions and movement points are defined by the mission manual briefing in the "Special Rules / Notes" section.
- You play with all the Lightshield cards in hand. Lightshields cannot be refilled unless specified on the Mission cards. Your hand limit is 13.
- You don't need to make another lightshield deck with the discarded cards that remain discarded.
- If a mission card states to earn actions, Lux or movement points, they are summed to the ones you currently have.
- You can't get corrupted (unless specified on the Mission cards) and if your Lux falls to zero, you lose the mission.
- If you can't complete a Mission card goal, because you are out of actions or the means to do so, you lose the mission.
NOTE: To solve these missions, remember that for each action, you can only apply, at most, the primary effect of one Lightshield card and the alternate effect of another.
Ending the Scout Missions
At the end of this mission there is no Development phase, and any Status cards received are discarded. There are no standard rewards; instead, your reward for this mission is the special Lightshield card obtained during the mission. From now on you can use this card during missions.
Starting a Casual Mission
Even though it is not the recommended way to play Sheol, it is possible to ignore the established campaign order and play any mission in a stand-alone format.
Before playing a casual mission you should improve your scouts' equipment and abilities to an appropriate level for the mission you are about to undertake. This process also takes the number of players into account, as follows:
- Depending on how many players there are, consult the respective table 1-4.
- Take the correct number of weapons, lanterns, accessories, and Lightshields of the specified level(s). You can choose these freely, even if they do not share any archetypes with the scouts in the party. Alternatively, you can ensure that each scout does not receive any card that they do not share an archetype with, but be aware that this will complicate set-up.
- Put all equipment in the party reserve and divide the Lightshield cards among the scouts as players see fit.
- Consult table 5 and take the correct number of Printer items and districts. You can choose these freely as well.
- Shuffle the Printer items into their respective decks, adding them in addition to their base version or replacing them as normal. Place districts with their chosen face up on the Citadel board, filling the lowest tier before moving up to the next as normal. If you have the Land of the Night expansion, build the Citadel miniature with the correct number of parts.
- Finally, take the correct facility tiles as indicated in table 5 and place them on the Citadel board. (UE = Umbra Extractor, LS = Lux Synthesizer, CC = CLEU Cannon.)
Proceed with preparing the mission using the Mission Manual as normal. If you are playing with less than four scouts, remember to prepare Servodroids to join you on the mission.
It is even possible to create your own custom missions and setups!
Table 1: 1 Player
| Mission | Accessories LV1/LV2/LV3 | Weapons LV1/LV2/LV3 | Lanterns LV1/LV2/LV3 | Lightshields LV1/LV2/LV3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main 1 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 |
| Main 2 / Lum 1 | 1/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 1/0/0 |
| Main 3 / Lum 2 | 2/0/0 | 1/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 1/0/0 |
| Main 4 / Lum 3 | 2/0/0 | 2/0/0 | 1/0/0 | 2/0/0 |
| Main 5 | 3/0/0 | 3/0/0 | 2/0/0 | 3/0/0 |
| Main 6 / Eng 1 | 4/1/0 | 4/0/0 | 3/0/0 | 4/1/0 |
| Main 7 / Eng 2 | 4/2/0 | 4/1/0 | 4/1/0 | 4/1/0 |
| Main 8 / Eng 3 | 4/2/0 | 4/2/0 | 4/2/0 | 4/2/0 |
| Main 9 | 4/3/0 | 4/3/0 | 4/3/0 | 4/3/0 |
| Main 10 / Exl 1 | 4/4/1 | 4/4/1 | 4/4/0 | 4/4/1 |
| Main 11 / Exl 2 | 4/4/2 | 4/4/2 | 4/4/1 | 4/4/1 |
| Main 12 / Exl 3 | 4/4/2 | 4/4/3 | 4/4/2 | 4/4/2 |
| Main 13 / Tzm | 4/4/3 | 4/4/4 | 4/4/3 | 4/4/4 |
Table 2: 2 Players
| Mission | Accessories LV1/LV2/LV3 | Weapons LV1/LV2/LV3 | Lanterns LV1/LV2/LV3 | Lightshields LV1/LV2/LV3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main 1 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 |
| Main 2 / Lum 1 | 1/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 1/0/0 |
| Main 3 / Lum 2 | 2/0/0 | 1/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 1/0/0 |
| Main 4 / Lum 3 | 2/0/0 | 2/0/0 | 1/0/0 | 2/0/0 |
| Main 5 | 3/0/0 | 3/0/0 | 2/0/0 | 3/0/0 |
| Main 6 / Eng 1 | 4/1/0 | 4/0/0 | 3/0/0 | 4/1/0 |
| Main 7 / Eng 2 | 5/2/0 | 5/1/0 | 4/1/0 | 5/1/0 |
| Main 8 / Eng 3 | 5/2/0 | 6/2/0 | 5/2/0 | 6/2/0 |
| Main 9 | 6/3/0 | 6/3/0 | 6/3/0 | 6/3/0 |
| Main 10 / Exl 1 | 6/4/1 | 6/4/1 | 6/4/0 | 6/4/1 |
| Main 11 / Exl 2 | 6/5/2 | 6/5/2 | 6/5/1 | 6/5/1 |
| Main 12 / Exl 3 | 6/5/2 | 6/6/3 | 6/6/2 | 6/6/2 |
| Main 13 / Tzm | 6/6/3 | 6/6/4 | 6/6/3 | 6/6/3 |
Table 3: 3 Players
| Mission | Accessories LV1/LV2/LV3 | Weapons LV1/LV2/LV3 | Lanterns LV1/LV2/LV3 | Lightshields LV1/LV2/LV3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main 1 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 |
| Main 2 / Lum 1 | 2/0/0 | 1/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 2/0/0 |
| Main 3 / Lum 2 | 3/0/0 | 2/0/0 | 1/0/0 | 2/0/0 |
| Main 4 / Lum 3 | 3/0/0 | 3/0/0 | 2/0/0 | 3/0/0 |
| Main 5 | 4/0/0 | 4/0/0 | 3/0/0 | 4/0/0 |
| Main 6 / Eng 1 | 5/2/0 | 5/1/0 | 4/0/0 | 5/2/0 |
| Main 7 / Eng 2 | 6/3/0 | 6/2/0 | 5/1/0 | 6/2/0 |
| Main 8 / Eng 3 | 6/3/0 | 7/3/0 | 6/2/0 | 6/3/0 |
| Main 9 | 7/4/0 | 8/4/0 | 7/3/0 | 6/4/0 |
| Main 10 / Exl 1 | 8/5/2 | 9/5/1 | 9/4/0 | 6/5/2 |
| Main 11 / Exl 2 | 9/6/3 | 9/6/2 | 9/5/1 | 6/6/2 |
| Main 12 / Exl 3 | 9/6/3 | 9/7/3 | 9/6/2 | 6/6/3 |
| Main 13 / Tzm | 9/7/4 | 9/8/4 | 9/7/3 | 6/6/4 |
Table 4: 4 Players
| Mission | Accessories LV1/LV2/LV3 | Weapons LV1/LV2/LV3 | Lanterns LV1/LV2/LV3 | Lightshields LV1/LV2/LV3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main 1 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 0/0/0 |
| Main 2 / Lum 1 | 2/0/0 | 1/0/0 | 0/0/0 | 2/0/0 |
| Main 3 / Lum 2 | 3/0/0 | 2/0/0 | 1/0/0 | 3/0/0 |
| Main 4 / Lum 3 | 3/0/0 | 3/0/0 | 2/0/0 | 5/0/0 |
| Main 5 | 4/0/0 | 4/0/0 | 3/0/0 | 6/0/0 |
| Main 6 / Eng 1 | 5/2/0 | 5/1/0 | 4/0/0 | 7/2/0 |
| Main 7 / Eng 2 | 6/3/0 | 6/2/0 | 5/1/0 | 9/3/0 |
| Main 8 / Eng 3 | 6/3/0 | 7/3/0 | 6/2/0 | 9/5/0 |
| Main 9 | 7/4/0 | 8/4/0 | 7/3/0 | 9/6/0 |
| Main 10 / Exl 1 | 8/5/2 | 9/5/1 | 9/4/0 | 9/7/2 |
| Main 11 / Exl 2 | 9/6/3 | 9/6/2 | 9/5/1 | 9/9/3 |
| Main 12 / Exl 3 | 9/6/3 | 9/7/3 | 9/6/2 | 9/9/5 |
| Main 13 / Tzm | 9/7/4 | 9/8/4 | 9/7/3 | 9/9/6 |
Table 5: All Players
Upgraded Items are shown as Twilight Land (TL) / Forgotten Land (FL) / Shadow Land (SL) counts.
| Mission | TL | FL | SL | Districts LV1/LV2/LV3 | Facilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | UE |
| Main 2 / Lum 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1/0/0 | UE |
| Main 3 / Lum 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2/0/0 | UE |
| Main 4 / Lum 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3/0/0 | UE, LS |
| Main 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4/0/0 | UE, LS |
| Main 6 / Eng 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4/1/0 | UE, LS, CC |
| Main 7 / Eng 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 4/1/0 | UE, LS, CC |
| Main 8 / Eng 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 4/2/0 | UE, LS, CC |
| Main 9 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 4/3/0 | UE, LS, CC |
| Main 10 / Exl 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 4/3/1 | UE, LS, CC |
| Main 11 / Exl 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4/3/1 | UE, LS, CC |
| Main 12 / Exl 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4/3/2 | UE, LS, CC |
| Main 13 / Tzm | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4/3/2 | UE, LS, CC |
Card Effects in Detail
Due to space constraints on the cards, not all effects can be fully explained. In this section we explain some cards and their effects in more detail.
Lightshield Cards
All the Lightshield cards are covered in this section. They are divided by scout and in advanced cards.
The Pioneer
- Trailblazer of the Unknown: Draw from the bag randomly. If the plan action also resets the pool of the available lightstream tiles, first create a new pool, then draw from the bag.
- Lightstream repositioning: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. The lightstream tile moves can be turned to be adjusted, but it's not flipped from the dim side to the illuminate side or vice-versa (because there is an adjacent enemy).
- Demolition: You can also destroy the lightstream tile under your scout. In that case, the scout will be in a dark space. You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel.
- Sight adjustment: You can play this card even if you already rolled the Scout die the first time.
- Impact detection: Each time you reveal an enemy with this card, the area of effect are all the spaces that surround (even diagonally) each revealed enemy. If you reveal an Outer Lord in this way, its illumination level will raise by 4. Shadows revealed this way do not perform reactions.
- Luminous Convergence: It's not necessary for the ally to perform a Plan action to play this card. They may choose to not draw the tile if they want.
- The Pioneer's legacy: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel.
The Maenad
- Dancer in the Dark: You can play this card even if you already rolled the Scout die the first time.
- Lightstream surfer: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel.
- Fearless leap: You can play this card even if you are inside the Citadel. The Citadel cannot be passed using this card, but you can leave it. The spaces can be both dark. You can also move only 1 space.
- Weapons specialist: You can't play this card if you already rolled the Challenge/Overload die during the Overloaded Action.
- Maenad's ecstasy: If the target is an Outer Lord, its illumination level is raised by 2. You can move even in dark spaces without spending movement points. You can also not move and just attack if you want, but you can't continue moving without attacking. If for any reason you can't move, you don't move. Shadows revealed this way do not perform reactions. Heralds perform reactions when hit. You can also attack enemies already revealed.
- Safe Trails: If a scout exceeds the movement points allowed by its track, the bonus is lost. The scout cannot spend movement points while this card is played: for example, earn 1 point, spend it, then earn the other 2.
- Faster than death: You can move even in dark spaces without spending movement points. You can also move less spaces than the permitted ones.
The Cyclops
- Brothers in Arms: The other Scout could not be in the Citadel.
- Survival of the fittest: You prevent only the damage, additional effects (like getting status cards) are not prevented.
- Attractive Field: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. Standard shadow movement effects apply.
- Leatherback: You can't move or perform actions after you played this card. You prevent only the damage, additional effects (like getting status cards) are not prevented. Shadows attack you normally.
- Charged Lux emitter: You have to throw the Scout die for each attack. You don't apply the critical hit effect if you get a critical hit. You can move shadows less than 2 spaces if you want. You don't move Outer Lords. Heralds or Outer Lords hit this way perform reactions as usual.
- Safeguard: Scouts prevent only the damage, additional effects (like getting status cards) are not prevented.
- Don't mess with me: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. You can only push shadows or Heralds. If in this way a shadow or a Herald should go over a lightstream tile, they don't go over it and get damage. Also coralbone tokens count as obstacles.
The Breathless
- Holding breath: You can move after you played this card.
- Camouflage: You prevent only the damage, additional effects (like getting status cards) are not prevented. This applies to all enemies.
- Relocating techniques: You can play this card before the enemies are attacking, or a single enemy is attacking. For example, you can play it before a Herald attack, and prevent the damage (because you move to a space out of its attack pattern) from it and from the shadows that attack later. But you can play it also before a single shadow attack. The attacking order of the shadows is specified in the section: Sub-phase 5: Shadow actions. You can play more than 1 Relocating techniques in the same turn, moving multiple times to avoid multiple attacks.
- Eye of the eagle: You also apply the critical hit bonuses.
- Oblivion marksman: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. If you reveal an Outer Lord in this way, its illumination level will raise by 4. Shadows revealed this way do not perform reactions.
- Target acquisition: If the illumination level of the enemy is more than 2, consider the illumination level of the enemy for this attack. You have to play this card before the attack of the target scout.
- Immortal instinct: You prevent only the damage, additional effects (like getting status cards) are not prevented. This applies to all enemies. The counter attack performed with this card is done immediately after the enemy attack.
The Half-Light
- Twilight Bender: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. You can move each shadow within 3 spaces from you to a position that is within 3 spaces from you and within 3 spaces from the starting position of the shadow.
- A Spoonful of Sugar...: The other scout may decide to not take the corruption marker or perform the Overloaded Attack. To make the attack, they have to throw the Challenge/Overload die as a normal Overloaded Attack.
- Wicked Osmosis: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. You can use numbered tokens (with number 1) to mark the 1-1 blips. The blips that replace the revealed shadows must correspond to the shadows that were once revealed.
- Shock Therapy: If a scout exceeds the movement points or the actions allowed by its track, the bonus is lost. If you gain Lux and you exceed the maximum of 8 for your current vial, increase the vial number by 1 and add the excess Lux to the next vial. You may exceed the number of starting vials.
- Hyde inside me: While you are in this state, you are not corrupted, but you can't place lightstream tiles and you can move in dark spaces using only 1 movement point. If you became corrupted while this card is in play, you can keep this card, but you have anyway to spend 3 lux points at the end of the Scout phase to keep it active.
- Dark transfusion: If you gain Lux and you exceed the maximum of 8 for your current vial, increase the vial number by 1 and add the excess Lux to the next vial. You may exceed the number of starting vials.
- Shadow Ethologist: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. You can make a blip or a revealed shadow attack another enemy or scout. To make the shadow attack, throw the shadow die like a normal attack. The damage dealt is the one the shadow normally does. It is normally reduced by shields.
The Connector
- Bodyhack 01: IC4RUS: You can have multiple cards of the same kind active at the same time. When this card is played, it counts as it was in your hand to determine your hand limit.
- Bodyhack 02: GH05T: If you can't pay the movement points at the beginning of the Scout Actions sub-phase, you must discard the card. You can have multiple cards of the same kind active at the same time. When this card is played, it counts as it was in your hand to determine your hand limit.
- Bodyhack 03: F1RE5T0RM: If your damage becomes 0 or less due to this card, you can't attack. The card used to keep this card active must be discarded at the beginning of the Scout phase, before the Refill Lightshield sub-phase. You can have multiple cards of the same kind active at the same time. When this card is played, it counts as it was in your hand to determine your hand limit.
- Bodyhack 04: C0MP455: When you play this card you have to decide which effect to apply. If you decide to apply +1 to the plan value of your lantern, place the card close to your lantern, otherwise, place it close to your weapon. If you choose the damage effect, you add 1 damage value to both your attack and overloaded attack damage. If you choose the plan effect, and you add it to a lantern that has 0 as Plan action value and no Lux cost, the value is now 1 and the cost to perform the Plan action is 1 Lux. If due to the effect of this card during the Refill Lightshield sub-phase you have to reduce the cards you should draw below zero, you must discard this card. You can have multiple cards of the same kind active at the same time. When this card is played, it counts as it was in your hand to determine your hand limit. You can't change where the card is played after it is played, moving it, for example, from a weapon to a lantern.
- Chip M2: DJ1NN: Use the base damage and plan values to determine the resulting damage or plan value. Then add optional bonuses to that weapon (if there are bonuses on the weapon) or to that lantern (if there are bonuses on the lantern). Actions may be performed in different Scout phases.
- Bodyhack 05: 3CH8: Another scout may play any card that is in your hand as if they were you. This means they play the cards close to their lantern or weapon and apply the effects to their equipment. They also have to pay the costs to keep these cards active. Another Bodyhack 05: 3CH8 card can't be played using this effect.
- Chip M1: 1FR1T: You get the bonus action only if you played the Reveal, Attack and Plan actions in the same Scout phase.
The Merciful
- Bearer of hope: While you are moving, if you are over a shadow and you finished movement points, you can spend Lux to gain movement points and increase the movement. So you can conclude it in an allowed space. At the end of the movement, reveal first the shadow you passed over, and proceed in order. The Heralds revealed this way are fully illuminated. The Outer Lords are immune to this effect. Also, remember that Outer Lords are obstacles that can't be passed even with a flying movement.
- Light transfusion: If you gain Lux and you exceed the maximum of 8 for your current vial, increase the vial number by 1 and add the excess Lux to the next vial. You may exceed the number of starting vials.
- Illuminating touch: For Heralds, raise their illumination level to 4; for Outer Lords, raise their illumination level by 2. For shadows, remember that if an attack does not inflict enough damage to kill them, the damage is sustained until the end of the Scout phase.
- Wings of salvation: The other scout may choose to fly or not every time they move. If they decide to make a flying movement, you have to pay their movement points.
- Hymn to light: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. This means that you can ignore the illumination level of the enemy when you throw the Scout die to attack. Anyway, you have to throw the die and apply bonuses and maluses. To apply this effect, the other scouts must be in the range of The Merciful specified when they attack.
- Luminary's goodwill: If a scout exceeds the movement points allowed by its track, the bonus is lost. The scout cannot spend movement points while this card is played: for example, earn 1 point, spend it, then earn the other 2.
- The miracle of mercy: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. If a scout exceeds the movement points allowed by its track, the bonus is lost. The scout cannot spend movement points while this card is played: for example, earn 1 point, spend it, then earn the other 2. If you gain Lux and you exceed the maximum of 8 for your current vial, increase the vial number by 1 and add the excess Lux to the next vial. You may exceed the number of starting vials.
The Wrench
- Caste's guardian: Shishi: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. When a shadow enters in the area controlled by Shishi (all adjacent spaces + diagonal spaces) you may decide to activate the ability of Shishi and destroy Shishi and that shadow. You may activate the ability anytime after each shadow movement, or you can wait until the end of the current phase, then, if the ability was triggered, you must activate it. If you destroy a revealed shadow in this way, you earn Umbra as if it was destroyed by the scout that controls Shishi. If an enemy goes over Shishi, Shishi is destroyed. If that enemy was a shadow, it was destroyed as well.
- Planning leader: You can take a lightstream from a scout and give it to another scout. You may not repeat the effect. You can choose different targets when you repeat the effect.
- Caste's guardian: Yùtù: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. If a lightstream tile is already on its bright side, nothing happens to that tile. If you placed Yùtù on a lightstream tile and that tile is dim, you can flip that tile as well. If an enemy goes over Yùtù, Yùtù is destroyed.
- Caste's guardian: Zhū Què: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. When a shadow enters in the area controlled by Zhū Què (all adjacent spaces + diagonal spaces) you may decide to activate the ability of Zhū Què and reveal every shadow near it (all adjacent spaces + diagonal spaces) or wait. You may activate the ability anytime after each shadow movement, or you can wait until the end of the current phase, then, if the ability was triggered, you must activate it. Shadows revealed in this way perform their reactions as they were revealed by a scout. Their target for the reactions is Zhū Què. If an enemy goes over Zhū Què, Zhū Què is destroyed.
- Caste's guardian: Xuan Wu: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. When you play Xuan Wu, place its card next to your scout board and keep it until it is destroyed. Each time a shadow tries to go over Xuan Wu, it is pushed back and Xuan Wu receives one damage. Heralds or Outer Lords that go over Xuan Wu destroy it immediately. Each time Xuan Wu receives one damage, put a break marker (red cube) on it. Once the amount of break markers is equal to the number of its life points, destroy Xuan Wu and put the Lightshield card in the discard pile. To attack with Xuan Wu, you have to throw the Scout die as usual. Xuan Wu recharges its free actions at the beginning of the Scout phase. Free actions are not cumulative and must be spent until the end of the Scout phase, or they are lost. You may put blue cubes on Xuan Wu to count them. Like other drones, Xuan Wu can't move.
- Walking workshop: This card must be played during a repair action of another scout. Umbra or additional action required to repair the weapon or lantern must be paid.
- Caste's guardian: Qing Long: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. The damage inflicted is not an attack and doesn't consider armor. Damage could be inflicted to both revealed and unrevealed enemies.
The Maul
- The Way of Umbra Flowers: If you can't remove a corruption marker, you can't play this card.
- The Way of the Black Tide: For shadows, remember that if an attack does not inflict enough damage to kill them, the damage is sustained until the end of the Scout phase.
- The Way of the Ashes: You don't flip your scout card or discard the corruption markers in this way. You can move in the dark spaces paying 1 movement point; the Overloaded Reveal action can be performed without damaging the lantern or paying the Lux cost (any Umbra cost must still be paid); the Overloaded Attack action can be performed without damaging the weapon or paying the Lux cost (any Umbra cost must still be paid). Any critical hit applies the effect on the front of your scout card.
- The Way of the Scars: Round down to calculate the bonuses.
- The Way of the Reborn: You have to pay 3 Umbra as well to activate the effect. If you are already corrupted, you can play this card anyway. To perform the attacks you have to throw the Scout die as usual.
- The Way of the Dreamcatcher: The scout gains the Umbra, only if it has 1 Corruption marker to remove.
- The Way of the Berserk: Round down to calculate the bonuses.
Advanced Lvl. 1
- Abstract engineering: You can place lightstream tiles during a Reveal action, even outside your lantern pattern, but only in spaces that are connected to you by the lightstream. If you are in a dark space, you can't place any lightstream. You can't place lightstream tiles under your scout in this way. Standard placement rules apply.
- Caste's Guardian: Bái Hǔ: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. All shadows within 3 spaces of Bái Hǔ move towards it. You don't have to apply the gravity die result to these shadows. If the shadow has to move for any other reason, they move normally, ignoring Bái Hǔ. If a shadow for any reason goes over Bái Hǔ, destroy both.
- Spark of hope: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. To apply this effect, the other scouts must be in the range of you to gain Lux. When they attacked, they could be farther. The attacks must already be performed when you play this card.
- Scavenger techniques: To gain the umbra, the extractor must be operative, so there mustn't be enemies on it.
- Piercing detection: This applies to all and only the shadows revealed during that action.
- Inner strength: If playing this card determines that you became corrupted, you don't gain any Lux. If you play this card and you are already corrupted, you gain 2 Lux, but you discard the corruption marker (unless you are The Maul).
- Team synergy: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. All the scouts within 2 spaces of you gain the movement points.
- A light in the dark: The Lux is gained after you paid the costs to perform the action.
- Lightstream flare: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. You may destroy any lightstream tile on the dim or bright side.
- Weak point: You can play this card even if you already rolled the Scout die. If you miss because the illumination level of the enemy isn't sufficient, you can't play this card.
- Harmonic maneuver: If a scout exceeds the action points allowed by its track, the bonus is lost.
- Shadow Charmer: It only applies to revealed shadows, not to blips or Heralds.
- First Aid: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. It applies any form of damage.
- Righteous retribution: It applies any form of damage. Damage dealt in this way is not diminished by armor.
- Flashing paths: Remember that adjacent is always orthogonal.
- Swift steps: If you exceed the movement points allowed by the track, the bonus is lost.
- Accept the void: This bonus is nulled if at least one enemy is within 2 spaces of you. If then you have no enemies within 2 spaces of you, the bonus is again active.
- Warcry: You can play this card only if you are outside the Citadel. Scouts gain this bonus only if they are within 5 spaces of you when this card is played. It lasts for 1 attack action for each scout that gains the bonus.
Status Cards
These are special lightshield cards. Not all the cards are covered in this section, because most are clear. As a general rule, when you draw a status card while you are refilling your hand during the Refill Lightshield sub-phase, if the card says to discard it, you have to discard it without drawing another one. So you'll have a hand with one card fewer. This is an additional malus of the bad status cards.
- Incapacitated: If you don't have movement points for any reason you don't have to pay it.
- Mental Obscurity: If you don't have action points for any reason you don't have to pay it.
- Out of control: You can play this card only if you have a Corrupted weapon.
Districts
District cards are covered in this section, dividing the Active effect (on the front) and passive effect (on the back). District cards that allow you to build facilities are covered in the "Facilities" section.
Active Effects
- Slum Market: This may be applied to any shop.
- Canal District: This applies to lightstream tiles placed in any way.
- Survivors' Quarters: You may deal less than 5 damage. You can divide damage as you wish on enemies on that land. 5 damage is the total among all the enemies. If a revealed shadow is destroyed in this way, the scout closest to it gains 1 Umbra.
- Colossal Forge: This applies even if the damage dealt by the shadows is prevented.
- Guarded Upper Walls: This adds to other effects that prevent damage. Additional effects (like getting status cards) are not prevented.
- Perimetral outposts: This is like attacking an enemy with a weapon with damage 3. All bonuses and maluses given by the scout die apply. If a revealed shadow is destroyed in this way, the scout closest to it gains 1 Umbra.
- Exiled stairs: If you can't discard because you don't have enough cards in hand, you can draw anyway.
- Technomancers' maze: This applies to the current Scout phase. Corruption markers taken in any other way are not prevented.
- Emperors' Column: Lightstream tiles are drawn random as usual. You can place them anywhere, but not below enemies or on not allowed spaces.
- CLEU military barracks: This is like attacking an enemy with a weapon with AoE damage 3. All bonuses and maluses given by the scout die apply. If a revealed shadow is destroyed in this way, the scout closest to it gains 1 Umbra.
- Technologists' District: Always remember that if you exceed your hand limit, you have to discard exceeding Lightshields.
- Luminaries' Sanatorium: It could be any effect. Other effects are not prevented.
- Upside-down district: You don't flip your scout card in this way, unless you became corrupted. You can move in the dark spaces paying 1 movement point; the Overloaded Reveal action can be performed without damaging the lantern or paying the Lux cost (any Umbra cost must still be paid); the Overloaded Attack action can be performed without damaging the weapon or paying the Lux cost (any Umbra cost must still be paid). Any critical hit applies the effect on the front of your scout card.
- Guardians' Statues: This is like attacking an enemy with a weapon with damage 3. All bonuses and maluses given by the scout die apply. If a revealed shadow is destroyed in this way, the scout closest to it gains 1 Umbra.
- Radiant paved boulevard: Consider this movement like a jump. Opportunity attacks caused by effect or threat cards are not applied.
- High castles: Lightstream tiles are drawn random as usual. You can divide them in any way.
- Lantern Square: Shadows don't perform reactions in this way. Damage is dealt after the shadow reveal. If a revealed shadow is destroyed in this way, no Umbra is awarded to scouts.
- Council meeting rooms: This applies to any threat card.
- Seekers' district: Consider this movement like a jump. Opportunity attacks caused by effect or threat cards are not applied. You don't pass any other space, but you go directly to your starting point. You may choose to not move.
Passive Effects
- Scavengers' trading posts: You can also pay 2 Umbra to reveal an additional item when you perform the Deploy printer action. This adds to the total count.
- Lux Foundries: All effects that before could affect 5 Lightstream tiles in the pool now affect 6 tiles.
- Plateau Mines: The shadows revealed this way do not perform reactions.
- Inferior Walls: Each time the Citadel suffers 1 damage, ignore it and put a blue cube on this card. Only 2 damage for each mission can be ignored in this way.
- Vertical prison: You may mark the selected shadows in any way.
- Library District: You may not discard any Lightshield.
- Monumental mound: Tiles can be placed only in allowed spaces. If they are placed adjacent to an enemy, they are placed on the dim side as always.
- Automated factories: All other cost must be paid.
- Source of Knowledge: You have to shuffle the mental radiance card into the deck before any other effect at the start of the mission.
- The Pivot: In this way The Maul could keep an additional marker when he gets corrupted.
- Luminaries' Monastery: The spaces affected by this effect are calculated from any space of the starting point. So you can calculate it even from a corner space of the Citadel, not only from the gates.
- Flower District: This sums to other effects.
- Colosseum: This also applies to Servodroids.
- Majestic Light Spring: They could need to add a new vial to store this additional Lux.
- The Spire: This sums to other effects.
- Dawn monument: If a scout exceeds the movement points allowed by its track, the bonus is lost.
Facilities
- Umbra extractor: If there are no scouts that can earn the Umbra produced by this facility, place an Umbra token on the facility. Once a Scout goes over the facility, they can get all the Umbra tokens deposited there as a free action. If no scout is connected to the land but the land is connected to the Citadel, then the materials can be deposited at the Citadel by placing them on the Citadel board.
- Lux synthesizer: If there are no scouts that can earn the Lux produced by this facility, place a blue cube on the facility. Once a Scout goes over the facility, they can get all the Lux (blue cubes) deposited there as a free action. If no scout is connected to the land but the land is connected to the Citadel, then the materials can be deposited at the Citadel by placing them on the Citadel board, using blue cubes to represent units of Lux.
- CLEU cannon: The attack is always performed as if the enemy (Shadow, Herald or Outer Lord) has illumination 2. Even if it was previously fully illuminated by a scout. If you destroy a revealed shadow with the CLEU cannon, the scout closest to the CLEU cannon gains 1 Umbra.
- Monorail: Only 1 scout connected to the facility gets the 2 bonus movement points. These points cannot be split. If a scout already has 4 or 5 movement points, the bonus is lost.
- Scout tower: The effect only applies to Shadows, not Heralds or Outer Lords. The Shadow reacts as if the facility was a Scout. The facility cannot be attacked or suffer item damage or other effects due to reactions.
- Immolates' barrier: This applies to all the Lightstream tiles connected to the barrier, but not to the lands (except the one where the facility is built) or the Citadel. The effect only applies to Shadows, other enemies behave as if there is no effect.
Mission Cards
- The Half-Light / A: The Maenad is considered under your control, use a Lux board to manage her stats. You can move her spending her movement points and make her attack using 1 action or 2 Lux. Her attacks make 2 damage and always hit. If due to an effect, she has to perform an overloaded attack, she does 3 damage instead. The Maenad cannot spend lux points to increase her movement, cannot reveal or do other actions. The Maenad ignores effects that could make her get status cards or corruption. For example, if you use "A Spoonful of Sugar..." Lightshield card, she attacks without getting the corruption marker.
- The Connector / B: You have to resolve all the Scout phase sub-phases from 1 to 5. You will not draw any additional lightshield or create an additional lightshield deck with the discarded cards.
- The Connector / C: You have to create a new lightshield deck using the single Chip M1: 1FR1T card. All the discarded cards remain in the discard pile.
- The Merciful / B: The Cyclops is considered under your control, use a Lux board to manage his stats. You can move him spending his movement points. Each time The Cyclops steps in a space adjacent (not in the shadow attack pattern, but only adjacent) to a blip, he suffers 2 damage. The Cyclops cannot spend lux points to increase his movement, cannot reveal or do other actions.
- The Merciful / C: Each attack of The Cyclops costs 1 Lux and can be discounted using The Merciful Lightshield cards. He can't use the overloaded attack, but only the normal attack. You have to throw the Scout die to attack, as a normal attack.
Weapon Cards
In this section are covered the weapons with special effects that need explanation.
Starting Weapons
- Light Spear: The extra attack is an attack versus the same enemy that suffered the standard attack. You can't change target, move or do any action between the standard attack and the extra attack. You have to throw the scout die to see if you hit the target for the extra attack as well. If the enemy is destroyed by the standard attack and you still have to perform the extra attack, you don't perform it. The extra attack does not count as an action.
- Syringe Rifle: You can't attack shadows with the overloaded attack.
- Hand Defibrillator: This weapon is also considered a lantern for effects that use the keyword "lantern," but it can't perform plan or reveal actions. It's only used to "attack" scouts that gain much Lux as the damage you deal. The target scout must be in the attack pattern of this weapon like it was an enemy. You can't target yourself. You have to throw the scout die to attack and apply the bonuses or maluses you gain from the attack. The scout is considered to be fully illuminated. If you make a critical roll, you may apply the critical effect.
Lvl. 1 Weapons
As printed, this part of the manual is unfinished (marked "TODO" in the source) and repeats the same placeholder text for several weapons:
- Flash Shotgun: Could happen that in some cases the Citadel is in between some large Herald attacks. In these cases the Citadel is an obstacle for Herald attacks. So the targets behind it do not suffer any damage.
- Bone Katars: In these cases the Citadel is an obstacle for...
- Squall: In these cases the Citadel is an obstacle for...
- Evil Claw: In these cases the Citadel is an obstacle for...
- Twisted Rifle: In these cases the Citadel is an obstacle for...
- Two-headed Halberd: Could happen that in some cases the Citadel is in between some large Herald attacks. In these cases the Citadel is an obstacle for Herald attacks. So the targets behind it do not suffer any damage.
Terms
- Shadow: it could be a blip or a revealed shadow.
- Enemy: it could be a blip, a revealed shadow, a Herald or an Outer Lord.
- Scout: it could be a player scout or a servodroid.
- AoE: Area of Effect. It means that the attack or the reveal hits all the targets in the area. The reveal actions are always AoE.
- Adjacent: Always means orthogonally adjacent, never diagonally, unless it's specified by an effect. Movement is also always orthogonal.
- Your Deck: Always means the Lightshield deck.
- Connected: means connected to you by the lightstream.
Movement Tables
Player Controlled Movements
In the next 2 tables there are described what happens if a subject element (for example a scout) moves towards another element. Since all these movements are intentional and controlled by the player, the "" means that you can't move towards that element.
| Subject | Scout | Mech | Drone | Shadows (all) | Herald | Outer Lord | Singularity | Coralbone Obstacle | Dark Conglomerate Obstacle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scout | Swap | \ | Goes over. | \ | \ | \ | \ | \ | \ |
| Flying Scout | Swap | \ | Goes over (must finish movement in allowed space). | Goes over (must finish movement in allowed space). | Goes over (must finish movement in allowed space). | \ | Goes over (must finish movement in allowed space). | Goes over (must finish movement in allowed space). | Goes over. |
| Mech | \ | \ | \ | Both are destroyed. | Mech is destroyed. Herald suffers 3 damage. | Mech is destroyed. Outer Lord suffers 3 damage. | \ | Goes over. Coralbone is destroyed. | \ |
| Drone | \ | \ | \ | \ | \ | \ | \ | \ | \ |
| Subject | Lux Trench obstacle | Rift obstacle | Land Tile | Facility Token | Event/treasure tile | Mission token | Open Lightstream tile | Closed Lightstream tile | The Citadel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scout | Goes over. | \ | Goes over (and reveal it if conditions are met). | Goes over. | Goes over (and resolve the tile). | Goes over (and usually resolve the Mission token). | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes inside (remove the miniature from the main board). |
| Flying Scout | Goes over. | Goes over (must finish movement in allowed space). | Goes over (and reveal it if conditions are met). | Goes over. | Goes over (and resolve the tile). | Goes over (and usually resolve the Mission token). | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes inside (remove the miniature from the main board). |
| Mech | Goes over. | \ | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over. | \ |
| Drone | Goes over. | \ | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over. | \ |
AI Controlled Movements
In the next 2 tables there are described what happens if a subject element (for example a shadow) moves towards another element. Since all these movements are managed by game AI, "Goes around" means that the subject takes the shortest path towards its target, occupying an allowed space.
| Subject | Scout | Mech | Drone | Shadows (all) | Herald | Outer Lord | Singularity | Coralbone Obstacle | Dark Conglomerate Obstacle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shadows (blips and normal shadows) | Goes around if the scout isn't the target, otherwise it doesn't move. | Both mech and shadow are destroyed. | Shadow is pushed back and drone is destroyed (except drones with life points). | Jumps | Jumps | Jumps | Jumps | Jumps | Goes over. |
| Flying Shadow | Goes over (must finish movement in allowed space), otherwise, it goes around. | Goes over (must finish movement in allowed space), otherwise, both mech and shadow are destroyed. | Goes over (must finish movement in allowed space), otherwise, it is pushed back and drone is destroyed (except drones with life points). | Jumps | Jumps | Jumps | Jumps | Jumps | Goes over. |
| Herald | Goes around if the scout isn't the target, otherwise it doesn't move. | Goes over. Mech is destroyed. Herald suffers 3 damage. | Goes over. Drone is destroyed. | Jumps | Jumps | Jumps | Jumps | Jumps | Goes over. |
| Flying Herald | Goes over (must finish movement in allowed space) if the scout isn't the target, otherwise it doesn't move. | Goes over. Mech is destroyed. Herald suffers 3 damage. | Goes over. Drone is destroyed. | Jumps | Jumps | Jumps | Jumps | Jumps | Goes over. |
| Outer Lord | Goes over the space. The scout is pushed. | Goes over. Mech is destroyed. Outer Lord suffers 3 damage. | Goes over. Drone is destroyed. | Goes over the space. The shadow is pushed. | Goes over the space. The Herald is pushed. | \ | Goes over the space. The singularity is pushed. | Goes over. Drone is destroyed. | Goes over. |
| Subject | Lux Trench obstacle | Rift obstacle | Land Tile | Facility Token | Event/treasure tile | Mission token | Open Lightstream tile | Closed Lightstream tile | The Citadel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shadows (blips and normal shadows) | Goes around. | Goes around. | Goes over. | Goes over (facility is deactivated). | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over (lightstream is flipped or destroyed). | Is pushed back (lightstream is flipped or destroyed). | Is destroyed (Citadel suffers 1 prosperity damage). |
| Flying Shadow | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over (facility is deactivated). | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over (lightstream is flipped or destroyed). | Is pushed back (lightstream is flipped or destroyed). | Is destroyed (Citadel suffers 1 prosperity damage). |
| Herald | Goes around. | Goes around. | Goes over. | Goes over (facility is deactivated). | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over (lightstream is flipped or destroyed). | Goes over (lightstream is flipped or destroyed). | Goes around if the target is not in the Citadel, otherwise it doesn't move. |
| Flying Herald | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over (facility is deactivated). | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over (lightstream is flipped or destroyed). | Goes over (lightstream is flipped or destroyed). | Goes around if the target is not in the Citadel, otherwise it doesn't move. |
| Outer Lord | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over (facility is destroyed). | Goes over. | Goes over. | Goes over (lightstream is destroyed). | Goes over (lightstream is destroyed). | Citadel is destroyed and mission is lost. |
Icon Reference
<the last page of the rulebook is a legend of the game's icons, reproduced here as text.>
General: Lux, Red Lux/Corruption, Umbra, Scout Phase, Shadow Phase.
Development Phase: Citadel First Level, Citadel Second Level, Citadel Third Level, Luminary Faction Point, Engineers Faction Point, Exiles Faction Point, Weapon Card, Lantern Card, Accessory Card, Twilight Land, Forgotten Land, Shadow Land, Lightshield Card, Reward Card.
Scouts: Lux Vials, Corruption, (Scout, Enemy) Critical Hit, Brightness Archetype, Camouflage Archetype, Care Archetype, Defense Archetype, Dexterity Archetype, Endarkenment Archetype, Luxarms Archetype, Mechanics Archetype, Melee Archetype, Servodroid, Lux Regain, Flip the Card.
Actions / Alternative Effects: Action Point, Movement (Point, Discount), Flying Movement, Attack (Action, Damage, Discount), Attack Range, Plan (Action, Discount), Reveal (Action, Track, Discount), Overload (Action, Discount), Durability, Discount on another Scout Action, Discount on any type of Action, Charge, Draw a Lightshield Card, Discard this Card, Exploration, Citadel Exploration, Build Action, Deploy Printer Action, Umbra Extracted.
Enemies: Hypershadow, Lurker Shadow, Devourer Shadow, Moth Shadow, Hunter Herald, Awakener Herald, Marauder Herald, Mindblower Herald, Avadon Outer Lord, Ghinnom Outer Lord, Shibaron Outer Lord, Singularity Rotation and Flip, Enemy Health, Discard an Outer Lord Action Card.