Thanos Rising: Avengers Infinity War Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Object of the Game
• Set Up
• Game Play
  • Turn Order Detail
  • Game Play (continued)
• End of the Game
• Additional Rules
  • Heroes
  • Damage
  • Villains
  • Bonus Tokens
  • Infinity Stones
• Legends and Game Play Variants
  • Thanos Die Facings
  • Power Dice Facings
  • Game Play Difficulty Variants
• Credits

Components

• 42 Asset (Hero and Villain) Cards
• 4 Team Base/Summary Cards
• 4 Team Deployment Tokens
• 15 Power Dice
• 1 Thanos Die
• 1 Infinity Stone Die
• 1 Thanos Figure
• 50 Damage Counters
• 30 Infinity Stone Control Counters
• 30 Bonus Tokens
• 1 Deployment Zone
• 1 Infinity Gauntlet
• 6 Infinity Stone Cards
• 6 Infinity Stones

Asset Cards are four different types of Heroes and an example of a Villain. The Team Base Card indicates the starting dice pool, Team Leader (starting Hero) and ability for that team. There is a turn order reminder on the back!

Object of the Game

Players must work together to recruit Heroes and defeat Villains before Thanos collects all six Infinity Stones or ten Heroes are defeated. For players' first game it is recommended that seven of the ten Villains must be defeated before all the Infinity Stones are collected by Thanos. Difficulty level can be adjusted for players' familiarity with the game and the degree of challenge desired. For more on difficulty level and variations of game play see End of the Game on page 9 and Game Difficulty Variants on page 12.

Set Up

(A) Lay out the Infinity Gauntlet with the six Infinity Stone Cards nested into it (text side face-down). Place the matching Infinity Stone on each of these cards, with the yellow Infinity Stone Counters nearby. Place all the dice, the red Damage Counters and the Bonus Tokens (face-down) within easy reach of all players. Note: Dice are shared amongst all players.

(B) Place the Deployment Zone between the players with the Thanos figure in the center of it facing a random sector.

(C) Each player chooses a team, by collecting a Team Base Card (or assign at random) and its matching Team Deployment Token. The card indicates that player's starting dice pool as well as the starting Hero (team leader) for that player's team, which that player collects from the Asset deck.

(D) After players collect their starting Hero cards, shuffle the deck of Asset Cards (all remaining Heroes and all ten Villains), placing it near the Deployment Zone. Deal out the top nine cards face-up (three for each sector) and place around the Deployment Zone. These make up the initial Assets that players can interact with, as they attempt to recruit Heroes and defeat Villains.

You're ready to start playing!

Game Play

The player who most recently watched a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie goes first, and play proceeds clockwise.

Turn Order Summary – This also appears on the back of each Team Base card as a reminder.

1. Place Team Deployment Token in sector.
2. Roll and resolve Infinity Stone and Thanos Dice.
3. Roll Power Dice. Assign at least one die and continue re-rolling remaining dice, until all dice have been assigned or forfeited.
4. Apply results of assigned Power Dice by recruiting Heroes (removing all Damage Counters and adding to team), adding Damage to Villains (drawing Bonus Tokens), and resolving Hero abilities.
5. Discard any defeated Heroes and Villains. Replace empty spaces in sectors with new cards from the Asset Card deck. Collect Team Deployment Token.

Turn Order Detail

1. The first (active) player chooses where to deploy their team, by placing their Team Deployment Token in one of the three sectors. The three face-up Asset Cards in this sector are the Heroes and Villains the active player can assign dice to this turn.

   Example: The active player (Steve) has chosen the Avengers Team with Captain America as the starting Hero (team leader). Steve decides to deploy his team to the sector with Hawkeye, Mantis, and a General Outrider, placing his Deployment Token in that sector (which Thanos is also currently in, too).

2. The active player then rolls the Infinity Stone and Thanos Dice, and resolves their effects (in that order), indicating Thanos' schemes and actions. The Infinity Stone Die represents Thanos increasing control over the Infinity Stones. This is indicated by adding a counter to the Infinity Stone Card matching the color of the die roll (see Infinity Stones on page 11).

   The Thanos Die represents Thanos' actions to rally his villainous followers and attack the Heroes that are threatening his plans. The possibilities for the Thanos Die include changing the sector that Thanos faces, either clockwise or counter-clockwise (and subsequently attacking Heroes there); or forcing an additional roll of the Infinity Stone Die; or triggering the abilities of all Villains NOT in Thanos' current sector. (See page 12 for a complete legend of the Thanos die faces and results.)

   Thanos always attacks each Hero in the sector he is facing after the Thanos Die is resolved. If the active player's Team Deployment Token is in that sector, Thanos will also attack each Hero on the active player's team, since they are present in that sector! Thanos' attack is resolved by adding one Damage Counter to all Heroes in that sector (see Damage on page 10). After resolving the Thanos Die, Villains in Thanos' resulting sector will then ALSO have their abilities triggered (see Villains on page 11).

   Example: After deploying, Steve rolls the Infinity Stone and Thanos Dice, rolling the Aether (RED) and a clockwise (R) rotation. Resolving the dice: (A) one Infinity Stone Counter is added to the Aether card. (B) Thanos is moved to face the adjacent clockwise sector. (C) Thanos now attacks all the Heroes present in that sector, adding one Damage Counter to each. (D) Thanos triggers the ability of the Villain in his current sector, Proxima Midnight, who adds one Damage to all of the Heroes on Steve's team.

3. After resolving the Infinity Stone and Thanos Dice, the active player then collects and rolls their Power Dice pool (the four dice indicated on their Team Base Card plus any extra dice from Hero abilities and/or Bonus Tokens). The Power Dice have different combinations of symbols representing the Hero powers (Battle, Technology, Mystic, and Cosmic). Dice rolled will be assigned to Asset Cards in order to either recruit Heroes, defeat Villains, or activate some Hero abilities. (See page 12 for a legend of Power Dice face combinations.)

   The active player consults the results of their opening Power Dice roll, (first checking to see if their team ability triggered). They must now assign one or more dice to match symbols on one of the Assets in their sector. The goal is to either recruit a Hero and/or attack a Villain. They must assign at least one die to match a symbol on a card, and can only assign to one (and only one) of the Assets in their sector with each roll. Once assigned, dice cannot be moved or re-rolled for the turn.

   If a player cannot assign a die to a card in their sector, they must select and forfeit one die from their dice pool (for the turn). It is always advisable to try to assign a die to match at least one symbol.

   After assigning (or forfeiting) at least one symbol, the active player rolls the remaining dice in their pool, attempting to match other symbols. Usually, they will want it to be the same card they assigned dice to for their first roll, but can choose any Asset in their sector. If dice can be assigned to meet the requirements for ALL symbols on a card, that Asset will either be recruited (Heroes) or damaged (Villains) at the end of the turn (see next page).

   After resolving Thanos' actions, Steve gets to act, attempting to recruit one of the Heroes in his sector (Hawkeye or Mantis) and/or damage a Villain (Outrider). He rolls his Power Dice pool of four Battle (Red) dice, as indicated by his Team Base Card.

   (A) His first roll is BATTLE, BATTLE, MYSTIC, TECH. He now assigns one or more of ONE card in his sector, and decides to assign the two BATTLE dice results to Hawkeye, hoping to roll more BATTLE symbol to successfully recruit him. He could have assigned them to the Outrider instead to attempt to add to his team, but it wants to try to add to his team on this turn.

   (B) After assigning the two dice, he re-rolls the remaining dice, getting a MYSTIC and a TECH. He didn't get the last BATTLE needed, so he assigns the TECH to the Outrider, instead of just forfeiting a die.

   (C) He then re-rolls the last unassigned die and gets a 2 BATTLE result. He could assign it to the Outrider to attack it, but instead assigns it to Hawkeye, successfully recruiting and adding him to his team (removing any Damage Counters on it).

Game Play (continued)

4. The active player continues to roll and assign (or forfeit) dice until there are no dice remaining in their pool, or it becomes impossible to successfully assign enough dice to meet the requirements of a card in that sector, and proceeds to the final step of their turn.

5. For the final step of a player's turn, all assigned dice are resolved. Heroes successfully recruited (Power Dice assigned to match ALL their symbols) are added to that player's team. All Damage Counters on the recruited Hero are removed.

   Any Villains successfully attacked (Power Dice assigned to match ALL their symbols) have a Damage Counter added to them, AND the active player gains a Bonus Token for each Damage Counter added to a Villain. Recruited or defeated Heroes and Villains are replaced with the top cards from the Asset Card deck. Note: A player cannot use the abilities of newly recruited Heroes or Bonus Tokens on the same turn in which they are collected.

   After recruiting Heroes and attacking Villains, the active player collects their Team Deployment Token, as they return to the safety of their base, and it is the next player's turn, proceeding clockwise.

   Play continues with the next active player deploying their team, rolling the Infinity Stone and Thanos Dice as Thanos advances his plots and schemes, then their team's Power Dice, as they attempt to recruit Heroes and defeat Villains.

   As players add Heroes to their team, they will also add abilities to their arsenal, which may include rolling additional dice for their dice pool, manipulating and re-rolling dice, and removing Damage Counters from Heroes. Remember, when Villains are attacked, players also earn a Bonus Token for each counter added, resulting in even more abilities!

   See pages 10 & 11 for more details on Heroes, Damage, Villains, Bonus Tokens, and Infinity Stones.

End of the Game

If the players can defeat enough Villains before Thanos has collected all six Infinity Stones, they win the game! For an easy game, players must defeat seven out of the ten Villains in the Asset deck, but can scale up difficulty by trying to defeat more (see page 12 for Legends and Game Play Variants).

Players can lose the game in a few different ways, as follows:

• If Thanos collects all six Infinity Stones, all players lose the game. He has mastered control of the Infinity Gauntlet and wreaks havoc on the very fabric of reality!
• If collectively ten (or more) Heroes are defeated, all players lose, as they have taken too many losses to successfully mount a coordinated attack on Thanos.
• If any one player has all the Heroes on their team defeated, all players lose, as Thanos has eliminated one of the team's key Bases of Operation.

Note: If players were to both win and lose the game at the same time (for example: Thanos collects the sixth Infinity Stone AND the final Villain is defeated) the players win!

Additional Rules

Heroes

All Hero Asset Cards have the following details:

(A) Hero type – this icon indicates the Hero's affiliation – and is important to note for resolving some Hero abilities and Villain attacks.

(B) Damage – this indicates how many Damage Counters a Hero can have before being defeated (see Damage below).

(C) Recruit symbols – this is the required combination of symbols that have to be rolled and assigned to the Asset Card to recruit the Hero and add it to a player's team.

(D) Hero Ability – this is the special power that the player can use when the Hero is part of their team, and only on that player's turns. Some abilities are dependent on the Hero type of other Heroes on a player's team. Others allow a player to change the face of a die or re-roll dice before assigning dice (as seen in the Rocket example). Additionally, some Heroes may be able to draw Bonus Tokens, remove Damage Counters, or remove Infinity Stone Counters. Finally, some abilities require a player to assign Power Dice to the Hero to activate their ability (matching the symbol shown with the ability). Note: this can be done instead of assigning dice to a card in the player's sector, and can be done only once per turn. This counts as assigning a die for a roll, meaning that player does not have to forfeit a die for a roll.

Example: Rocket — Once per turn, you may change any one Power Die to any face.

Example: Mantis — Remove two Damage from a Hero. If Mantis is on your Team, you would have the opportunity to assign a MYSTIC symbol to her and activate her ability. This ability may be applied to ANY Hero, removing two Damage Counters.

Damage

Each Hero and Villain has a designated amount of Damage Counters they can have before being defeated (discarded and out of the game), as indicated on the right side of their card. Heroes are damaged in one of two ways – first, one counter is added to ALL Heroes in the same sector as Thanos after resolving the Thanos die (this includes Heroes on the active player's team IF their Team Deployment Token is in the sector with Thanos).

Additionally, some Villain abilities will add Damage Counters to Heroes. When adding counters to an Asset (Hero or Villain), place them on empty DAMAGE spaces on the right side of the card. At the END OF EACH TURN, if Damage Counters on a card are equal to the number of spaces it has, that Asset is defeated.

Villains

The Asset Card deck includes Villains like the General Outriders and the Children of Thanos, working throughout the universe to help enact Thanos' evil plans. After resolving the Thanos and Infinity Stone Dice, the Villains' abilities will be triggered if Thanos is present in (facing) their sector.

Example: Corvus Glaive — If Thanos is in this sector, add one Damage to all Heroes in the clockwise adjacent sector. A Villain with enough Damage to be defeated.

To defeat Villains, they must be attacked by assigning Power Dice to match the symbols shown, adding one Damage Counter for matching Power Dice symbols. The amount is indicated by the DAMAGE spaces on the right side of the card (see Damage above).

Only one Damage Counter may be added to each Villain per turn (unless a player has a special Hero or Team ability).

Additionally, for each Damage Counter added to a Villain, the active player draws a Bonus Token as reward. When sufficient Damage Counters are added to a Villain, it is defeated and discarded at end of turn.

Set defeated Villains aside to keep track of progress towards victory.

Bonus Tokens

For each Damage Counter a player adds to a Villain, they draw a Bonus Token. Bonus Tokens have a variety of effects, and may be used on ANY player's turn, meaning players can assist one another in their efforts! Most Bonus Tokens represent (A) a Power Dice symbol, which can be used to assign to a card, for recruiting Heroes and attacking Villains (in addition to assigning dice). Other Bonus Tokens (B) let a player roll an extra Power Die or (C) remove counters, as stated on the tokens. Bonus Tokens can be used at any point on any player's turn after rolling and resolving the Infinity Stone and Thanos Dice. A player can wait until after rolling and assigning Power Dice before deciding if and how to use tokens. Once used and effects resolved, Bonus Tokens are discarded.

There are three kinds of Bonus Tokens: (A) a Power Dice symbol, (B) roll an extra Power Die, (C) remove one Damage from two Heroes.

Infinity Stones

Thanos is trying to collect and control all six Infinity Stones to power the Infinity Gauntlet. Each time the Infinity Stone Die is rolled for a match, note the color rolled and add a counter to the matching Infinity Stone Card. At the end of each turn, any Infinity Stone Card with five (or more) counters has been collected by Thanos. This is denoted by placing the Stone into the Infinity Gauntlet and flipping over the card (removing all the counters). This now grants Thanos extra abilities that will activate on every subsequent turn when that color is rolled on the Infinity Stone Die – instead of adding counters! Infinity Stone abilities DO NOT trigger on the turn the Stone is collected.

Below is an example of an Infinity Stone that Thanos has collected. The Infinity Stone is placed into the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Stone Card is flipped to the text side. Once this happens, when the Infinity Stone Die is rolled matching a color that has been collected by Thanos and placed in the Gauntlet, the ability is triggered according to the directive on that particular Infinity Stone card.

Legends and Game Play Variants

Thanos Die Facings

• Rotate counter-clockwise (L): Thanos rotates counter-clockwise one sector, and attacks all Heroes in that sector including each Hero on your team IF your Deployment Token is in the resulting sector.
• Rotate clockwise (R): Thanos rotates clockwise one sector, and attacks all Heroes in that sector including each Hero on your team IF your Deployment Token is in the resulting sector.
• Villain icon: Activates the abilities of all Villains NOT in the sector with Thanos (as if he were there). Thanos remains in the current sector, and will still attack Heroes and trigger Villain abilities there.
• Infinity Stone reroll icon: Roll the Infinity Stone Die again and resolve the result in addition to the result of the original roll. Thanos remains in the current sector, and will still attack Heroes and trigger Villain abilities there.

Power Dice Facings

Each Power Die (Battle/red, Technology/blue, Mystic/green, Cosmic/black) shows six faces: Battle symbol, Battle symbol, Battle symbol worth 2, Technology symbol, Mystic symbol, and Cosmic symbol — the specific mix of six faces varies by die color, combining the die's own affiliation symbol more heavily with single instances of the other three affiliation symbols.

Game Play Difficulty Variants

As described in the End of the Game section on page 9 there are three ways that players lose the game: (A) Thanos collects all six Infinity Stones, (B) ten or more Heroes are defeated, or (C) any one player has all the Heroes on their team defeated.

For players' first game it is recommended that seven of the ten Villains must be defeated before any one of the above conditions is met in order to win the game. For a more challenging game, increase the number of Villains to be defeated in order to win, up to all ten! Players may elect to customize their own win condition by agreeing to adjust any of the values listed above for winning or losing, or starting the game with a counter on each Infinity Stone, in order to modify the difficulty.

Credits

Game Design: Andrew Wolf Graphic Design: Rick Hutchinson Product Management: Carol Johnston

Playtesters: Ben Ravensdale, Sarah Ravensdale, Joshua Stuart, Tom Lueker, Wes Ferrer, Steven Ambrose Wesel, Joe Lasley, Patrick Scott, Pat Marino, Kami Mandell, Tony Serebriany, Darren Donahue, Jayne Prindiville, Jed Lomahan, Arlo Hitzemann, Casey Sershon, Pam Mabrey, Delaney Mamer, Jake Davis, Jamie Scharbarth, Jackie Miserany, Zoe Robinson, Bridgette Reuther, Susan Theodore, Stephanie Turl, Tim Zlotnicki, David Gibbs, Katie Lowther, Carolyn Davis, Brent Navratil, Heather Campbell, John Davis.

Special thanks to Brian Ng and Stefanie Ju at Marvel.

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