Space Lion: Divide and Conquer Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• The Armies
• Card Anatomy
  • Unit Cards
  • Lion Cards
  • Bases
  • Medals
  • Priority Token
  • Army Specific Pieces
• Overview
  • Using Your Units
  • Discarded and Destroyed Cards
• Setup
  • Battlefield Layout
• Playing the Game
  • 1. Planning
  • 2. Battle
  • 3. Clean Up
  • Solo and Grouped Cards
  • End of Game Tie Breaking
• Battle Example
  • Player Vocal Alliances
• Game Modes
  • Battle Royale
  • Teams
• A.I. Armies and Solo Mode
  • Setup
  • How to Run the A.I.
  • A.I. and the Priority Token
  • Notes
• Achievements
  • Basic Victories
  • Army Mastery
  • Tactical Mastery
• Glossary

Components

5 Army Decks

• 5 Army Reference cards
• Leon army deck: 17 cards
• Enerhiya army deck: 16 cards
• Kudzu army deck: 16 cards
• Vacuus army deck: 17 cards
• Castell army deck: 16 cards

Various Game Pieces

• 5 Reference cards
• 6 Marine tokens
• 5 Decree mini cards
• 10 Kudzu tokens
• 10 Energy cubes
• 1 Tech twelve-sided die
• 1 Void token
• 20 Medal tokens
• 3 Leon base tokens
• 3 Castell base tokens
• 3 Enerhiya base tokens
• 3 Kudzu base tokens
• 3 Vacuus base tokens
• 1 Priority token
• 5 Destroyed reminder tokens
• 5 Lead reminder tokens

Deluxe Edition Only

• 5 army player boards
• 1 A.I. army player board
• 5 A.I. decks (one for each army)
• Turncoat mini expansion (20 cards)
• 6 Posters

The Armies

There are 5 unique armies to choose from, each with their own playstyle.

• Leon: Promote your units into Lions and use an abundance of powerful Lead effects. Deploy Marine tokens for a quick burst of power. Obliterate enemies with your super powerful Nuke ability!
• Enerhiya: Gather and manage energy to pay for tricky battle effects at critical times. Build your tech to power up a super powerful Titan!
• Kudzu: Deploy Kudzu tokens to take root for persistent power. Overgrow your bases into distant battlefields and safely duel opponents from a distance!
• Vacuus: Open the Red Door to empower your entire army. Use powerful discard effects to manipulate the battlefield from the shadows.
• Castell: Play decrees to add battlefield controlling effects. Strike with your Golem to hide your group attacks.

Card Anatomy

Unit Cards

Every army has exactly 7 total units, with Strength values 0-6. Each unit card shows its Strength, its Card Name, a Passive Effect (this effect is always active), and may show the following effects:

• LEAD: Activates when deployed face-up.
• BATTLE: Activates during battle in Priority order.
• DISCARD: Discard this card to activate this effect.

Lion Cards

A Lion is a powerful unit. During setup, you'll choose one to add to your army, replacing the unit of the same Strength in your army. Try your first game with the one labeled Recommended.

Bases

These bases indicate battlefields where you can deploy your units.

Medals

The player with the most medals at the end of the game is the winner. Earn medals by winning battles and various card effects.

Priority Token

The player who has this token is the Priority player and will:

• Take the first turn of the round.
• Choose the order battles happen.
• Have their battle effects resolve first.

Other players take their turns and resolve their battle effects in clockwise order from the Priority player. Going first is strong but there are advantages to going later!

Army Specific Pieces

Your army may have special tokens and components. Consult your army's setup card for which special pieces belong to your army and how to use them.

Overview

In Space Lion, you command your army in a series of simultaneous battles. Battles are fought in the areas where bases meet, referred to as Battlefields. A player only fights in Battlefields they have bases in. Each player has 3 bases: Left, Center, and Right. Your left and right bases are each placed next to one neighboring opponent's single base. Your center base is placed in the center of the table next to one base each from all opponents.

You only have 7 units in your army and must manage them between rounds and across battlefields. Each round, you can deploy Units from your hand to any of your Battlefields, contributing their Strength and any relevant effects there. You might also choose to discard units for their discard effects or even hold onto units to better use in the future. When a round ends, the player with the highest Strength total in each battlefield wins a medal. Have the most medals by game end to win!

Using Your Units

There are 2 ways to use your unit:

Deploy a unit: Deploy a unit into a battlefield to contribute the unit's strength there. You deploy units face-down by default but you could deploy a unit face-up to use its Lead effect. During the battle itself, units will use their Battle effects in Priority order.

Discard a unit: Discard a unit from your hand face-up to use its discard effect.

Discarded and Destroyed Cards

Discarded cards are placed face-up and are public knowledge. Stack your discarded cards in a row in front of you so their Strength values are visible to all players. At the end of the round, discarded cards are returned to your hand.

Destroyed cards (face-down) are placed face-down and are hidden information. Stack your destroyed cards in a face-down row in front of you. At the end of the round, destroyed cards are flipped face-up, becoming Discarded cards for the next round. That means destroyed cards can't be normally used for two rounds, oof!

Setup

For your first game, we recommend playing the Leon army vs. the Kudzu army.

1. Each player chooses an army. Take the 7 unit cards into your hand.
2. Each player chooses 1 Lion card from their army in secret. Once all players have chosen their Lion, reveal your choice to all players and add it to your hand. Remove the unit in your hand with the same Strength as your Lion and return it to the game box with all other removed unit cards and unused Lion cards.
3. Follow any additional setup instructions on your Army Reference card and/or Lion. You may be given additional components with these effects.
4. Place a pile of Medal tokens and Reminder tokens where all players can reach them.
5. Each player places their 3 bases to create a left, center, and right battlefield (see below for setup).
6. The player who last saw a movie that takes place in space starts with the Priority token. If there is a tie, choose a random player to start.

Battlefield Layout

In a two player game, all battlefields will be against the same player but in a 3+ player game, you will be battling the players seated to the left and right of you. The center battlefield will involve all players. Left and right battlefields are between adjacent players only; the CENTER battlefield involves all players.

Playing the Game

The game is played in rounds. A game's number of rounds is determined by the game's total player count (including A.I. players).

• 2 Players: 4 Rounds. Each player will have the Priority token twice.
• 3 Players: 3 or 6 Rounds. Each player will have the Priority token once or twice.
• 4 Players: 4 Rounds. Each player will have the Priority token once. (FFA or 2v2)
• 5 Players: 5 Rounds. Each player will have the Priority token once.

A round consists of 3 phases:

1. Planning
2. Battle
3. Clean Up

1. Planning

Starting with the Priority player and going clockwise, players take turns. On your turn, do the following, in order:

1. You may discard a card from your hand to use that card's discard effect.
2. You must Deploy 1 unit or Pass.
   • Play a unit Face-down to keep it hidden.
   • Play a unit Face-up to use that card's lead effect.

After your turn, the next clockwise player takes a turn. Continue taking turns until all players have taken 4 turns and/or Passed. If you Pass, you cannot take any more turns this Planning Phase.

Deploy unit(s): Deploying a unit is taking a unit from your hand and placing it into a battlefield Face-up or Face-down.

Pass: If you pass, you cannot take any more actions during the Planning Phase.

2. Battle

1. The Priority player chooses a battle to resolve.
2. Flip units in that battlefield face-up.
3. Resolve Battle effects in that battlefield in Priority order.
4. Check for highest total Strength and determine the winner.
5. Winner: Gain 1 medal. 3+ players only: If your victory was in the center battlefield, score 1 extra medal.
6. "If you win / lose" effects trigger in Priority order.
7. Battle ends. Discard solo cards. Destroy grouped cards.
8. The Priority player chooses the next battlefield to resolve. If there are no more battles, proceed to Clean Up.

Clash (Tie for highest Strength): When two armies tie for highest Strength, a Clash occurs and there is no winner or loser. No medals are awarded to any player. Clashes can be forced by card effects. Card effects resolve as normal in a Clashed battle.

3. Clean Up

1. All players add their discarded cards to their hands.
2. Flip destroyed cards face-up into the discard area.
3. Pass the Priority token to the next clockwise player. Begin a new round, or if all rounds have been completed, end the game. The player with the most medals at the end of the game wins.

Solo and Grouped Cards

Solo and grouped are important game terms that refer to the current number of cards a player has in the battlefield. It is possible that cards change between solo and grouped during the round. Ignore any tokens when determining solo and grouped, only use cards.

Solo: The player has exactly one card present. That card is solo.

Grouped: The player has two or more cards present. Those cards are grouped.

End of Game Tie Breaking

If the game ends with multiple players being tied for having the most medals, the player who scored the most medals on the last round is the winner. If there is still a tie, those players share the victory!

Battle Example

The player with the Priority token has a total of 5 Strength (Palm Warrior, 5) matching your 5 Strength (Marine 2 and Officer 3). You have two choices here:

Example 1: You might decide it's worth losing this battle in order to focus your efforts elsewhere by using your Marine's battle effect to move it into another battlefield. Officer's battle effect will destroy Palm Warrior. It will be unavailable next round. Officer is now solo and he is discarded, making him available for the next round.

Example 2: You might be unwilling to lose this battle. In that case, you do not use your Marine's effect and a Clash happens (tie). Palm Warrior is destroyed by Officer's effect. It will be unavailable next round. Our units are grouped so they will both be destroyed as well. You will have 2 less units next round but did not let the enemy gain a medal.

Player Vocal Alliances

Sometimes it can get a little political between players. This is allowed, however players cannot trade resources or reveal normally hidden information with one another. There are no game rules holding agreements in place as well so watch out!

Game Modes

Free-For-All: The standard game mode in the rulebook.

Battle Royale

Last player standing wins! Play round after round, until there is only one player left standing! This mode is ideal for tournament play.

• Give each player 8 medals. Each player places 2 on each of their bases and 2 on their player board. Winning in a battlefield earns no medals. Card effects that grant medals can bring a player's medal count to higher than 7. When a medal is gained, they can place it on one of their bases and never on the playerboard.
• When a player loses a battle, they lose a medal on the base involved in that battle. If there are none left, they lose one from their playerboard instead.
• Middle Battlefield Rule: All players that lose the center battle lose 1 medal. The FFA rule regarding the center battle being worth 2 medals on 3+ player games is not in effect.
• A player cannot have less than 0 medals. At the end of the Cleanup Phase, players with 0 medals on their playerboard are eliminated.
• If you win a battle with 10+ Strength and you had double the strength of an enemy, that losing player will lose 2 medals instead of 1.

Elimination Reforms Battlefields

• When a player is eliminated, remove all of their components from the game. The players on either side of the eliminated player push their isolated bases together to form a new battlefield between them. Place any of the neighboring players' cards and tokens from the previous battlefields into this new battlefield.

Teams

Play with allies and take simultaneous turns with your teammate! You can combine this mode with Battle Royale and A.I. players!

• Sit across from your teammate as best as possible. All players should have only enemies sitting next to them.
• The Priority token is passed between teams rather than players. Teams take their turns together. Continue taking turns until all teams have taken 4 turns and/or Passed.
• Teammates can communicate verbally but cannot pass cards to one another.
• When a battlefield has multiple allies in it, teams total their final Strength together to determine the winner of that battlefield.
• Grouped and solo rules only apply to a player's own units. Each player controls their own army's pieces.

A.I. Armies and Solo Mode

You may add 1-5 A.I. armies to any game. Playing with one or more A.I. armies can also allow you to play the game on your own. A.I. armies follow all the same game rules as normal players. The steps below will show you how to operate an A.I. player.

Setup

• Choose an A.I. opponent. There are 5 to choose from (Leon, Enerhiya, Kudzu, Vacuus, or Castell).
• Shuffle that A.I.'s cards into a deck.

How to Run the A.I.

• Start of Round: Each A.I. army does the following. If there are multiple A.I. armies, do each A.I. army in priority order.
  1. Deploy the top card of their deck face up into the indicated battlefield and resolve its lead effect.
  2. Deploy three more random cards from the top of the A.I. deck face-down, one into each of the army's battlefields, filling left, then center, then right. (There will be 4 total A.I. units on the board).
• At the end of the round, the A.I. destroys its grouped units. Keep them face down in a pile on the table. Any discarded units are shuffled back into the A.I.'s deck.

A.I. and the Priority Token

When the A.I. has the priority token, it chooses to resolve battles in the following order:

1. The battle with its Lead effect.
2. Each unresolved left battlefield, clockwise starting with itself.
3. If unresolved, the center battle.

Notes

• The A.I. always deploys before all human players.
• Lead effects only trigger when the card is deployed face-up at the start of the round unless an effect states otherwise.
• When an effect requires the A.I. to make a choice, make the choice that best benefits the A.I. If there is disagreement among players, the player in priority order makes the choice.

Achievements

Complete as many challenges as possible! For each game played, you may complete one or more of these at once.

Basic Victories

• Bought Space Lion.
• Defeat the A.I. Leon Army.
• Defeat the A.I. Enerhiya Army.
• Defeat the A.I. Kudzu Army.
• Defeat the A.I. Vacuus Army.
• Defeat the A.I. Castell Army.
• Defeat 2 A.I.s in a single game (solo, teams, or FFA).

Army Mastery

• Leon: Promote 4+ units.
• Enerhiya: Get Mech to 20+ Strength.
• Kudzu: Deploy all 12 of your Kudzu at once.
• Vacuus: Steal 2 enemy Medals.
• Castell: Deploy all 6 Decrees.

Tactical Mastery

• Leon: Promote a unit and have all 6 Marines deployed in one round.
• Enerhiya: Win two battles with the Walking City / Vysota in one round.
• Kudzu: Win a battle where you do not control a base.
• Vacuus: Destroy 2+ enemy units with your effects in one round.
• Castell: Win 2 battles each with a Decree.

Glossary

Banish: When something is banished, it is removed from the game forever. Return it to the game box. It cannot enter the game again.

Base: A base indicates battlefields where you can deploy your units.

Battle effect: An effect that is resolved during the battle phase. Starting with the player with the Priority token and going clockwise, each player resolves any Battle effects on their units in that battlefield, in any order they wish.

Berserk: Has +1 Strength for each unit in its battlefield. This includes token units.

Clash: When two armies tie for highest Strength, a Clash occurs and there is no winner or loser. No player earns medals for winning the battle. Clashes can be forced by card effects. Card effects resolve otherwise as normal in Clashed battles.

Deploy: When a card enters the battlefield, it is deployed. Usually this happens from your hand into the battlefield face-down. A card can be deployed face-up to use its Lead effect.

Discard effect: Activates when exhausted from the player's hand. It only activates if it's discarded as part of the player's turn and not by other card effects.

Lion: A Lion is a powerful unit. During Setup, you'll choose one of your army's Lions to use this game. Your Lion replaces the unit of the same Strength in your army.

Discard (Face-up): Discarded cards are placed face-up near its owning player. Cards can be discarded by playing them during your turn for their discard effect, certain other card effects, or being solo at the end of a battle.

Destroy (Face-down): Destroyed cards are placed face-down near its owning player. Cards can be destroyed by certain card effects, or being grouped at the end of a battle. Destroy trumps Persistent.

Effect prevention rule: Sometimes two effects will interact preventing one from completing. When this happens, always resolve as much of the effect as possible.

Grouped: When a player has two or more cards present in a battlefield, those cards are Grouped. Determine if a card is solo or grouped before applying additional related card effects (ie: Relentless).

Here: When "here" is used in an effect text, it means specifically the battlefield the card is currently in.

Medals: The player with the most medals at the end of the game wins. Earn medals by winning battles or through various card effects.

Lead effect: An effect activated immediately by deploying that unit face-up.

Move / Switch / Redistribute: When a card moves, it moves from one battlefield to another. This is not considered Deploying. Redistributing units is considered moving units.

Persistent: Units with Persistent are never discarded or destroyed as the result of a Battle ending, only by other effects. They stay in their battlefield until another effect forces them to leave. Persistent units placed in previous rounds do not affect the number of units you can deploy in the current round.

Powered: Has +1 Strength for each counter on it. The counters remain on it until the unit is discarded or destroyed.

Recover: Recovered cards return to their owner's hand.

Relentless: When this card is Destroyed, it is discarded instead.

Solo: When a player has exactly one card present in a battlefield, that card is Solo. Determine if a card is solo or grouped before applying additional related card effects (ie: Relentless).

Strength: Each unit has a Strength value. During battle, total the Strength of all your units in the battlefield and compare it to other players. The highest total wins the battle.

Token: A punch board token. Some tokens are units. Tokens do not affect if cards are solo or grouped.

Tie breaker rules: If the game ends with multiple players being tied for having the most medals, the player who scored the most medals on the last round is the winner. If there is still a tie, those players share the victory!

Unit: A Unit is placed into a battlefield to contribute Strength and effects. Cards are units, and some tokens are units as well.