Ультиматум Синдиката Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• Components and Tokens
• Goal of the Game
• Course of the Game
  • 1. Place a Token
• Token Abilities
• Boss Card and Boss Token
  • 2. Set Aside a Card
  • 3. Play a Card
  • 4. End the Turn
• Example of a Player's Turn
• End of the Round
  • Notes on District Cards
  • Example of Playing a Card
• Scoring
  • Example of Scoring After Round 1
• Second Round
  • Example of Scoring After Round 2
• End of the Game
• Tournament Mode
• Asymmetry Module
  • Note on the Special Boss Cards

Setup

• Assemble the game board (as shown in the figure below) and place it in the centre of the table.
• Lay out the cards in 5 different piles, sorted by their backs. Shuffle each pile separately and place it next to the corresponding district (location icon) on the board, as shown in the figure below.
• Before the first game, stick the stickers onto the tokens of both colours, as shown in the figure on page 3.
• Each player takes a player board, the tokens of one of the colours, and places them on the corresponding cells of the player board.
• Find two Boss cards with identical abilities and return the remaining 5 to the box. Each player takes one of these two cards and places it face up next to their player board (see page 6 for details).
• Place the time counter and the control tokens next to the game board.
• The first player is the one who last watched the film Blade Runner.

Setup figure captions: 7 Boss ability cards; 25 district cards (5 for each); the game board (consists of 6 parts).

Components and Tokens

The page 3 illustration shows the two claimants' Boss cards and the five token types, with their descriptions as printed:

• Stella (Boss card): accustomed to luxury and power since childhood, she will not let anyone overthrow her. She knows too well that one who has fallen to the bottom will not rise again.
• Roy (Boss card): having risen from the lower ranks, he gradually won his father's trust and persuaded the old man to hand over the management to him. Now that the corporation has lost its leader, the time to act has come.
• Boss (Босс): the Boss token. Its ability is indicated on the Boss cards (see below).
• Links (Линки): mentally linked superhumans, who are grown in pairs in biocapsules. They have perfect organisms and nanotechnological implants, but when alone they are very vulnerable.
• Hunters (Охотники за головами): prefer to work alone. While the Commandos decide in what order to enter the room, the Hunters are already there.
• Commandos (Коммандос): specialists who work cleanly and smoothly. They constantly improve their skills and weapons. For money, they will do anything for you.
• Units (Юниты): layers of the population who have undergone modification and given their bodies to service in the corporation. This is their only chance to break out from the bottom and reclaim themselves. If they survive.

Component captions: 2 player boards; 6 control tokens; time counter; 30 player tokens (15 pink and 15 blue).

Goal of the Game

Take control of more districts than your opponent, thereby proving to the World Syndicate that you are the one who should rule the fate of this city.

Course of the Game

The game consists of two rounds, after which the winner is determined. A player's turn consists of the following sequence of actions:

1. Place a token in a district of the city (mandatory).
2. Set aside the top card from the pile of the corresponding district (if possible).
3. Play a card from hand (optionally) and place it on the time counter.
4. End the turn: the player must take into hand the card that was set aside at the start of the turn.

1. Place a Token

The player removes one token of their choice from their player board and places it in one of the five districts of the city. There are 5 types of tokens. They differ in number, abilities and strength. Unlike the other token types, the strength and ability of the Boss token are printed on its card.

Important! A district may contain no more than 5 tokens in total. This is the limit. Above the limit a token may be placed only with the help of certain cards; in all other cases this is not allowed.

Figure captions: strength of one token without using abilities; number of tokens and their type; ability; token type.

Token cards, as printed (strength values use the strength symbol; the number of tokens is shown on each card):

• Links: strength 1, 2 tokens. "2 Links in one district have strength 10 and protection from Guild cards. If one Link is eliminated, the remaining one has strength 3."
• Hunters: strength 1, 3 tokens. "A Hunter's strength changes if there are other tokens of the player in the same district as it: strength 9, 0 tokens; strength 3, 1 token; strength 0, 2 or more tokens."
• Commandos: strength 2, 4 tokens. "Protected from Guild cards and all Boss abilities."
• Units: strength 1, 5 tokens. "1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 Units in one district have strength 1 / 3 / 6 / 10 / 15."

Token Abilities

• Boss: the ability of this token is indicated on the Boss cards. The Boss token's strength is also indicated on its card and is marked with the strength symbol. (For more on Boss cards, see page 6.) For the first game, it is recommended to use the basic cards with identical abilities.
• Links: if one of a player's Link tokens is in one district and the second is in another district (or on the player's board), it has strength 1 and no protection from the effect of Guild cards. When both of the player's Link tokens are in one district, they are protected from the effect of Guild cards and together have strength 10. If one Link token is removed (taken out of the game), the remaining Link token has strength 3.
• Hunters: when a Hunter token is in a district alone, it has strength 9. If in the same district there is at least one other token of this player, the Hunter's strength becomes 3. If in a district with the Hunter there are two or more other tokens of this player, its strength becomes 0.
• Commandos: each Commando token has strength 2 and IMMUNITY: its strength cannot be changed by any abilities, and Commandos are protected from the effect of Guild cards.
• Units: when in one district, Unit tokens have a combined strength. The more Unit tokens in one district, the greater their combined strength. For example, three Units in one district have strength 6.

Boss Card and Boss Token

The game has 7 Boss ability cards: 5 of them are intended for the "Asymmetry Module" (Модуль асимметричности). For now, use the two basic Boss cards with identical abilities: "All tokens in a district with any Boss lose their abilities, except Commandos." For the others, see page 15.

The Boss token is placed on the board by the same rules as any other token. When it is placed, the player immediately applies the ability shown on the Boss card. Only after this does the player set aside the district card (if there is one). The Boss ability card is not placed on the time counter; it stays lying next to the player board face up. During the same turn, the player may (optionally) play a card from hand of any district, and it is placed on the next available cell of the time counter.

The Boss's strength and ability are shown on its card. The Boss ability always applies immediately as soon as the token is placed on the board, and it acts on all tokens in that district (both the player's own and other players' tokens). If a district contains two Boss tokens, they do not cancel each other's abilities; both abilities act on all tokens.

Example for the Boss token. The active player is Yana. Yana places her Boss in a district. The basic Boss ability acts on all tokens in that district: it cancels the abilities of all tokens except Commandos. When points are counted in that district, the tokens have the following strength:

• Links = 1, because they are not protected from Boss abilities.
• Commandos = 2, because these tokens are protected from Boss abilities.
• Hunter = 1, because this token is not protected from Boss abilities.
• Boss = 1, as indicated on its card.

2. Set Aside a Card

The player takes the top card from the deck lying next to the district where they have just placed a token. Without reading it or showing it to the opponent, the player places it face down next to their own board. If the chosen district has no cards left, the player takes nothing.

Each district of the city is unique and gives certain advantages. Cards of different districts have properties that allow:

• NETWORKS (СЕТИ): swap your own or another player's tokens on the board;
• HUB (ХАБ): place one more token in the indicated district;
• GUILD (ГИЛЬДИЯ): remove one token from the indicated district from the game;
• SQUAT (СКВАТ): move tokens between districts;
• BAZAAR (БАЗААР): disrupt the opponent's strategy and introduce confusion into the game.

3. Play a Card

On the first turn of any round, players have no cards in hand. If a player already has one or more cards in hand, they may play one card from hand. To do so, the player chooses a card from hand of any district, reads its content aloud, carries out what it says, and then places it face up on the time counter. Cards are placed on the divisions of the counter horizontally, starting from 01:00 (in the second round, from 13:00), strictly in order (see the markings on the counter). Players may look at the cards lying on the counter (in the discard) at any time during the game.

If a player has no cards in hand, they cannot play a card after placing a token.

Note: a player may play only one card from hand in a turn. A card set aside at the start of a turn can be played only on the player's next turn. The player decides for themselves whether to play a card from hand in that turn. If the player does not play a card, the time counter remains unchanged.

4. End the Turn

When ending the turn, the player takes into hand the district card that was set aside at the start of their turn, and checks the conditions for ending the round (see page 9). If the conditions for ending the round are not met at that moment, the turn passes to the opponent.

Example of a Player's Turn

The active player is Artur.

1. Artur places his Link in the BAZAAR district.
2. He sets the district card aside.
3. He plays from hand a card with the ability: "Take one card from the discard and immediately play it." He reads its content and places this card on the time counter on the next available cell.
4. He takes one card from the discard.
5. He immediately applies the ability of that card, which in this case reads: "You may place one more token in the same district where you placed a token this turn. If there is no room in the district, you may place the token over the limit." Artur places his second Link in BAZAAR.
6. He returns the card taken from the discard to the same cell of the counter from which he took it. Thus only the one card played from hand is counted.
7. He takes into hand the district card set aside at the start of the turn and passes the turn to the opponent.

End of the Round

The round ends when one of two possible conditions is met:

1. The player has no tokens left on their board (the player cannot begin a turn).
2. The time on the counter reaches 12:00 (in the second round, 00:00). Each card played counts as 1 hour on the counter.

If the first player places their last token while time has not yet run out, the second player makes their last turn. If the second player places their last token while time still remains (the counter has not reached 12:00 / 00:00), the first player does not take a turn: the round is over and scoring begins.

When one of the conditions is met, control of each district is checked and points are counted (detailed on pages 10–13). After this, each player takes a control token with the number indicating how many districts they control.

Notes on District Cards

• The over-the-limit rule applies when cards with the "Swap" (поменять местами) property are played; after applying the property, the number of tokens in the original and selected districts remains the same.
• Tokens cannot be swapped within a single district. The "Swap" and "Move" (переместить) properties mean the token must be moved from the original district to another (selected) district.
• Adjacent districts are those that share a border with each other.
• If a card says "Remove from the game", the token is put back into the box and does not take part in the game until the end of the round.
• Players may look at the cards lying on the time counter at any time.

Example of Playing a Card

Artur's tokens are pink; Yana's are blue.

Artur plays a card from hand: "Swap one of the opponent's tokens and one of your own tokens in any districts." He chooses GUILD and SQUAT. Artur wants both of his Links to end up in GUILD, so for this he swaps his Link with Yana's Hunter. Artur places the played card on the time counter.

Scoring

A district is considered controlled by a player if the total strength of all that player's tokens in it is greater than the opponent's. If the players' tokens in a district have equal strength, control stays with the player whose tokens are more numerous in that district. If it still cannot be determined whose district it is, the district is controlled by the player who moved second in this round.

Control of one district brings 1 victory point. The number of districts each player controls is their final score for the round. After scoring, each player takes a control token with the number indicating how many districts they took under control.

Example of Scoring After Round 1

The first round has ended. Artur's tokens are pink; Yana's are blue.

• GUILD: Yana has 2 Commandos here. Yana's tokens in this district have strength 4: two Commandos = 4. Artur has 3 Unit tokens here. Artur's tokens in this district have strength 6: three Units = 6. This district is controlled by Artur.

• HUB: Yana has 4 Unit tokens here. Yana's tokens in this district have strength 10: four Units = 10. Artur has 1 Hunter here. Artur's token in this district has strength 9: one Hunter, and no other tokens of the player. This district is controlled by Yana.

• SQUAT: Yana has 1 Hunter, 1 Unit and 1 Link (her other Link is in BAZAAR). Yana's tokens in this district have strength 2:

  • Link = 1, because the second one is in play;
  • Hunter = 0, because there are 3 tokens of the player in this district;
  • one Unit = 1.

  Artur has 2 Commandos here. Artur's tokens in this district have strength 4: two Commandos = 4. This district is controlled by Artur.

• NETWORKS: Artur has 2 Link tokens and 1 Hunter here. Artur's tokens in this district have strength 10:

  • Hunter = 0, because there are 3 tokens of the player in this district;
  • two Links = 10, because they are in one district.

  Yana has 1 Hunter here. Yana's token in this district has strength 9: one Hunter, and no other tokens of the player. This district is controlled by Artur.

Total: Artur controls 3 districts (NETWORKS, SQUAT and GUILD) and Yana controls 2 (HUB and BAZAAR). So Artur wins the round 3:2. Artur takes the control token with the number 3, and Yana takes the one with the number 2.

Second Round

After scoring, the first round ends and the players prepare for the game again: all tokens (including those removed from the game) are returned to the players' boards; the district cards are shuffled and laid out in piles next to the corresponding districts; the time counter is turned over to its other side; and the Boss ability cards remain lying next to the player boards, face up. If special Boss cards were used in the first round (the 5 remaining cards with different abilities), see page 15, "Asymmetry Module." The control tokens obtained stay with the players.

The second round is started by the player who moved second in the previous round. When the round ends, the players count points again and, as in the first round, take control tokens.

Example of Scoring After Round 2

The second round has ended. Artur's tokens are pink; Yana's are blue.

• GUILD: Artur has 1 Commando and the Boss (with the basic ability) here. Artur's tokens in this district have strength 3: Boss = 1; Commando = 2, because it is protected from the Boss ability. Yana has 1 Unit and 1 Hunter here. Yana's tokens in this district have strength 2 (the Boss ability acts on all tokens): Hunter = 1; Unit = 1. This district is controlled by Artur.

• HUB: Artur has 1 Link (the second one has been eliminated) and 1 Hunter here. Artur's tokens in this district have strength 6:

  • Link = 3, because the second one has been eliminated;
  • Hunter = 3, because there is one other token of the player in this district.

  Yana has 1 Hunter here. Yana's token in this district has strength 9: one Hunter, and no other tokens of the player. This district is controlled by Yana.

• SQUAT: Artur and Yana each have 1 Hunter token here. In this district Yana's tokens have strength 9, and Artur's tokens also have strength 9. Because the strength is equal, the second condition for control is checked: whoever has more tokens in the district. Here the number is equal too, so the third condition is checked: who moved second in this round. That is Yana, so this district is controlled by Yana.

• NETWORKS: Artur has 3 Unit tokens here. Artur's tokens in this district have strength 6: three Units = 6. Yana has 2 Links here. Yana's tokens in this district have strength 10: two Links = 10, because they are in one district. This district is controlled by Yana.

Total: Artur controls 1 district (GUILD) and Yana controls 4 (HUB, NETWORKS, SQUAT and BAZAAR). So Yana wins the second round 4:1. Yana takes the control token with the number 4, and Artur takes the one with the number 1.

End of the Game

The winner of the game is determined by the results of the two played rounds.

If one player won both rounds, that player wins. If one player won the first round and the other won the second, the values of the control tokens taken by each player in both rounds are added together. The player with the greatest total wins the game. If after two rounds the players have equal totals, both are considered losers and the Syndicate wins.

Example: Artur won the first round 3:2 and Yana won the second round 4:1. After two rounds Yana is the winner, since the total score is 6:4 in Yana's favour.

If in the second round Yana had won 3:2, both players would have lost, since the total score would then be 5:5, which would mean that the Syndicate won.

Tournament Mode

The game can also be played in tournament format. To end the game, one of the participants must win 2 rounds (so a 3rd round is possible). Before the start of the game, agree on which Boss abilities you will use: asymmetric or basic, and whether you will change them from round to round or not (and if so, how exactly). The end of a round happens by the usual rules.

Changes:

• The number of rounds: the game may last 3 rounds.
• In scoring: a player who controls more districts than the opponent receives 1 victory point. (As in the basic rules, a district is considered controlled if the total strength of all the player's tokens in it is greater than the opponent's.)
• The player who won the round takes the control token with the number 1; the second player takes nothing.

Example: Artur won the first round, taking control of 3 districts, and for this he received 1 victory point. The total score becomes 1:0 in Artur's favour. The second round is prepared. Yana wins the second round, taking control of 4 districts, and now she receives 1 victory point. The total score becomes 1:1. A third round is played, which will determine the winner of the game.

Asymmetry Module

If you are already fairly familiar with the game, you can move on to a new level. The game includes 5 special Boss ability cards, and you use them instead of the two basic cards.

Shuffle the 5 cards, then deal them to the players one each, face down, and set the extra cards aside without looking at them. Each player reads their card in secret and places it next to their board face down. The game is played by the usual rules: 2 rounds are played, and on their turn a player places 1 token on the board, takes a district card and may play 1 card from hand.

When a player places a Boss token on the board, the player turns their Boss card face up and immediately applies the ability shown on the card. After this, the player sets aside the district card (if there is one) and then may play a district card from hand. The Boss ability card is not placed on the time counter. It stays lying next to the board, face up, even if the token has returned to the player's board or was removed from the game.

A Boss token is always placed on the board only with the application of its ability.

Before the second round, the players may decide whether to keep their current Boss cards or take new ones. You may shuffle all 5 cards and deal them out one each, or choose one of the three unused cards. Agree between yourselves.

The same rules apply to the Boss token as to any other token. A player may look at the front side of their Boss card at any time.

Note on the Special Boss Cards

The Boss ability "In any district choose any opponent's token and replace it with any other of its owner's tokens from their board" can be applied to any opponent token, including the Boss. In that case the active player takes the Boss token from the opponent's board and places it on the board. The opponent's Boss ability triggers instantly: its owner reads the ability of their own Boss and checks whether the active player can carry out the action. If the active player's action is impossible, the active player must choose a different opponent's token. If that is also impossible, the active player cannot place their Boss with this ability.

Note on the other special Boss card ability: the ability reads "When placing the Boss token on the board, you may return one of your eliminated tokens to this same district." Two variants of the ability are indicated, and both cannot be chosen. The second variant, "If there are no eliminated tokens, when placing the Boss token you may place one token of your choice from your board in this same district," is possible only if the chosen district has free space for two tokens. If this is impossible, the player must choose another district for the variant to take effect. The player may also place a Boss token with this ability without using either variant, since both are worded with "may".