The Boldest Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components - What is inside the box?
• Set Up - Arriving in Camp
• Game Idea - The Right of the Strongest
• Goal of the Game - Journey into the Unknown
  • Hero Cards
  • Forest Cards
• Round Structure - A Day in the Iron Valley
  • 1. Refresh Phase
  • 2. Planning Phase
  • 3. Action Phase
    • A) Your Group is stronger
  • The Classes - What can they do?
    • Warrior
    • Technician
    • Hunters
    • Cooks
    • Pets
    • B) Your Group is weaker.
    • C) Your Group is tied.
  • Continuation of the Action Phase
  • 4. Reset Phase
• Game End - Who becomes a Legend?
• Two-Player Game - There can be only one
• Adventurers - The Special Abilities
  • Water Buffalo (paw, paw)
  • Repeated Class Symbols (sword, sword, sword / wrench, wrench, wrench / net, net, net)
  • Carried Items (Item icons)
  • Batteries
  • Hunters in disguise (three empty squares)
  • Hunters who loot more (Monster / Artifact / Batteries)
  • Additional directly adjacent Forest Cards
    • Technicians who fight (Artifact in the centre, a Monster above, to the left and to the right)
    • Warriors who loot (Monster in the centre, an Artifact above, to the left and to the right)
    • Warriors with lances (one Monster directly above another)

Components - What is inside the box?

• 1 double-sided Board
• 5 Screens (1 per Faction)
• 5 Flag Tiles (1 per Faction)
• 11 Tableaus
  • 5 Planning Tables (1 per Faction)
  • 5 Hamlets (1 per Faction)
  • 1 Central Tableau (with the King's Tent)
• 180 Hero Cards
  • 85 Starting Hero Cards (17 per Faction)
  • 95 Adventurer Cards (divided into 2 Sets)
• 10 Starting Item Cards (2 per Faction)
• 5 Fire Cards
• 4 Starting Artifact Cards (Values 1, 2, 3, and 4)
• 140 Forest Cards
  • 51 Monster Cards
  • 41 Item Cards
  • 48 Artifact Cards
  • Backside

Set Up - Arriving in Camp

Heroes from all over the kingdom followed the call of their king and built their Camp on the edge of the Forest. While Adventurers sleep below the open sky, the different Factions created a small city with their unique dwellings in close vicinity to the King's Tent. Everyone is preparing and the air is filled with tension.

1. Place the Board with the side corresponding to your player number facing up in the center of the table. Place the Central Tableau with the King's Tent below the Board.

The Board is divided into two areas, the Forest and the Camp. Forest Cards, which you are collecting over the course of the game, are laid out in the Forest. The Adventurers, with which you can expand your Faction, are displayed in the Camp. The Fire Cards determine the length of the game.

2. Choose a Faction.

   Magi of the Veil · Nautical Co. · Knights of the Eye · Lance Corps Rangers · Buckledust Raiders

   Place your Planning Table in front of you, and your Screen in front of it.

3. Place your Hamlet either below or next to your Planning Table, as your table space allows. The Hamlet does not need to be behind your Screen.

4. Take the two Starting Items, the Flag, and the 17 Starting Heroes of your Faction (recognizable by the Faction Symbol on their back).

5. Place your Starting Heroes face down on your Dormitory and the two Starting Items face up in front of your Screen, visible to the other players. In a two-player game, flip your Planning Table to the side with only two Planning Spaces.

6. Divide the Adventurer Cards into two Sets, distinguishable by their back, and shuffle them separately. Place Set 1 face down as the Adventurer Deck on the designated space in the Camp. Place Set 2 off to the side for now.

   In the two and three player game, draw 5 Adventurers from the Deck and place them face up in the Camp.

   In the four and five player game, draw 8 Adventurers from the Deck and place them face up in the Camp.

7. Shuffle the Forest Cards and place them as a Stack face down on the Central Tableau, to the left of the King's Tent.

   In the two and three player game, place 16 Forest Cards face up in the Forest.

   In the four-player game, place 20 Forest Cards face up in the Forest. Leave the spaces with empty spaces (the Hamlet symbol) empty.

   In the five-player game, place 25 Forest Cards face up in the Forest.

8. First place the Fire Card with the cooking pot = sword pictogram (see Cooks) on the Fire Pit in the Camp. In the two, four, and five player game, place 3 Fire Cards on top of it. In the three-player game, place 4 Fire Cards on top of it.

9. Shuffle the Faction Flags of all players and place them in random order next to the King's Tent. The player whose Flag is closest to the King's Tent doesn't receive a Starting Artifact. All other players receive a Starting Artifact. The value depends on their Flag's position. Divide the Starting Artifacts in ascending order from left to right, starting with the 1 on the left (second closest to the King's Tent). Place your Starting Artifact face down next to your Screen.

Finally, place all the unused material for your player number back into the box.

Here and in the following examples we always show a four-player game.

Game Idea - The Right of the Strongest

The king wants to know more about the Forest to uncover its secrets. The Factions are competing for the right to take part in the Expeditions to the Forest. They form Groups of Heroes from which the king only selects the strongest to venture into the Forest. This way, the Groups safely return with defeated Monsters, mysterious Artifacts, and discovered Items.

Each round you form three Groups of Heroes and compare them with your competitors afterwards. Only the strongest Groups take Monsters, Artifacts, and Items from the Forest while the other Heroes will have to wait for the next opportunity.

But it shouldn't take too long, the successful Groups always celebrate until late and cannot venture into the Forest the following Day. Plan your Groups wisely and acquire new Adventurers to bolster your Faction. Otherwise you will sooner or later run out of Heroes.

Goal of the Game - Journey into the Unknown

His highness wants certainty over the incidents in the Iron Valley. Therefore, he examines everything brought back from the Forest closely. The Faction that can accumulate the most Experience will be richly rewarded and become known as 'The Boldest' for courageously rushing into the unknown.

The player who has collected the most Experience by the end of the game wins.

Hero Cards

Symbol — Special Ability

Starting Heroes and Adventurers are collectively called Heroes. Other than Starting Heroes, all Adventurers have Special Abilities which are described at the end of the rules.

Each Hero belongs to a Character Class, from now on called Class. Each Class is recognizable by its Symbol.

Each Faction starts with 3 Warriors (sword), 3 Technicians (wrench), 3 Hunters (net), 5 Cooks (cooking pot) and, 3 Pets (paw).

The Classes execute different Actions with which they can acquire specific Forest Cards or Adventurers.

Forest Cards

Experience — Crosshair — Requirement

There are three types of Forest Cards: Monsters, Artifacts, and Items. Monsters and Artifacts are worth the stated amount of Experience. Each Item is worth 1 Experience. The Crosshair is only relevant for the Hunter Class and will be explained in the Hero Overview (page 6).

• Monster
• Artifact
• Item

First, we will explain the multiplayer game. The changes for the two-player game are explained afterwards.

Round Structure - A Day in the Iron Valley

At dawn, the Camp comes to life and most of the Heroes prepare for the day. The ones that were celebrating through the night need some rest now instead of excitement. With the sunrise, the Heroes are gathering in front of the tents and wait for the king's permission to venture into the Forest. At midday, the strongest Groups are leaving on consecutive Expeditions to bring back loot and unbelievable stories, just in time before nightfall.

Depending on the number of players, you play a varying number of rounds, called Days from now on. In a two, four, or five player game, you play 5 Days. In a three-player game, you play 6 Days.

Each Day is divided into four Phases. Three are played simultaneously. Only the Action Phase is executed consecutively.

1. Refresh Phase (simultaneous)
2. Planning Phase (simultaneous)
3. Action Phase (consecutively)
4. Reset Phase (simultaneously)

Each Player has a Hamlet and a Planning Table. On the Planning Spaces of your Planning Table, you place Heroes you want to take part in Expeditions. On the Hamlet, you find the Party Tent where participating Heroes are placed face up after an Expedition and the Dormitory where unused Heroes are placed face down. On the Central Tableau, the Leaders are discarded onto the King's Tent. The Forest Card Stack is located next to it.

Hamlet: Party Tent · Dormitory — Planning Table with three Planning Spaces

1. Refresh Phase

The Camp awakes and the Faction's Heroes rise for the day. Afterwards, they make sure that the revellers of the day before find their way back to their Dormitory. Tomorrow they must be ready, no matter how long they celebrated.

First, take all the face down Heroes from your Dormitory into your hand.

Afterwards, place all the face up Heroes from the Party Tent face down on your Dormitory.

At the end of the Refresh Phase, there are no Heroes on the Party Tent!

1. First, Mateja takes her face down Heroes from the Dormitory into her hand.
2. Then she places all her open Heroes from the Party Tent face down on her Dormitory.

2. Planning Phase

At their Planning Tables, each Faction plans which and how many Heroes they want to send on the Expeditions. Secretly, they form Groups of Heroes on their Planning Spaces. Sometimes there is only a single Hero that is brave enough.

Form Groups with your Heroes and place one Group face down on each of the three Planning Spaces on your Planning Table. Groups are formed from any number of Heroes of the same Class. A single Hero can also form a Group.

Every Group has a Leader (star). The Leader is the Hero, who is on top when you turn the entire Group stack face up. Only the Leader uses his Special Ability in the Action Phase. Therefore, pay attention to the order in which you place your Heroes! After you reveal a Group in the Action Phase, you are not allowed to change their order anymore.

Every Group has a Group Strength, which is equal to the amount of visible Class Symbols when you fan out the Heroes of the Group. The visible Class Symbols are the Class Symbols in the upper left corner from all Heroes and additionally the Class Symbols of the Leader's Special Ability, if any.

NOTE: The Group Strength does not influence the Action a Group can take. It determines which Groups can take part in the Expedition in the Action Phase.

The Pets (paw) are a special Class. They can be combined with any other Class but may never be the Leader of a Group.

You can leave Planning Spaces empty but, in most cases, we would recommend you use all of them.

NOTE: You can look through the Decks on your Dormitory or your Party Tent at any time during the game.

As soon as you are content with your Groups, you place the rest of your unused Heroes face down on your Dormitory and tell the other players that you are ready. When all players are ready, the Action Phase begins.

Daniela forms her first Group with two Warriors and one Pet (Group Strength 3). Her second Group consists of a single Cook (Group Strength 1). She forms the third Group with two Hunters. Daniela assigns this Hero as a Leader to use his Special Ability and increase the Group Strength by 3 (Group Strength 5). She places the Groups face down on the three Planning Spaces.

3. Action Phase

At midday, the king sends three Expeditions consecutively into the Forest. Only the strongest Groups may take part in the Expeditions, while the other Groups go back to their Dormitory and wait for the next opportunity. The Leaders of the Expeditions are summoned by the king to report what they witnessed in the Forest. The stories of the Cooks do not interest the king, as they only talk about their dishes.

In the Action Phase, three Expeditions venture into the Forest consecutively. An Expedition is fully resolved before the next one starts. The Classes which take part in that Expedition always execute their Actions in this specific order:

Warrior → Technician → Hunter → Cook

Put your Screen to the side and turn the Group on your first Planning Space face up.

Tell the other players the Group Strength and which Class you played. If you played the same Class as one or more other players, you compare your Group Strength with them.

There are three possibilities when comparing Group Strength:

A) Your Group is stronger B) Your Group is weaker C) Your Group is tied

A) Your Group is stronger

If your Group is the strongest, it takes part in the Expedition and executes its Action in Class order.

In the four and five player game, two Groups per Class can take part in every Expedition. After the strongest Group executes its Class Action, the second strongest Group of the Class executes its Action as well.

First, compare the Group Strength of all the Warriors and execute the Warrior's Action. Then continue successively in the same manner with the Technicians, Hunters, and Cooks. If no Group was played of a specific Class, simply skip this Class when resolving this Expedition.

If only one Group of a Class is played, it automatically counts as the strongest.

After you execute the Action discard the Leader of this Group to the King's Tent. The Leader of the Cooks is never discarded. Place all remaining Heroes of this Group face up on your Party Tent.

Your Group must execute its Action if possible. If you cannot execute the Action because you are missing the required Item, the next-strongest Group with that Item can execute the Action instead.

If your Group cannot execute its Action carry on as described in B).

The Classes - What can they do?

The Classes use their Actions to take Forest Cards and Adventurers. Some Monsters and Artifacts require an Item. Discard the required Item to take such a Forest Card. Place taken Monsters face down next to your Screen and taken Items face up in front of your Screen. Your Items must always be visible to the other players.

Warrior

Warriors rush ahead into the Forest and fight against the lurking Monsters. They provide safety for the other participants of the Expedition. Sometimes they cannot resist a helpful Item to equip for even bigger challenges.

Warriors take either one Monster or one Item. They can only take the bottommost Forest Card of a column.

Timo can decide between two Items, a Monster worth 4 Experience, and another Monster worth 5 Experience. He takes the Monster worth 4 Experience, so he doesn't give other players access to the Artifact worth 8 Experience.

Technician

After the area is cleared, the Technicians research the Forest with their various instruments. They decipher codes, salvage Artifacts, and bring them back into the Camp to study them closely in peace. From time to time they prepare for the next Day by recovering an Item.

Technicians either take one Artifact or one Item. They can only take the bottommost Forest Card of a column.

Steven cannot take the Artifact worth 9 Experience because he doesn't have the required Arc Fist. He must decide between the two Items. Steven takes the Chainsaw.

Hunters

With their ranged weapons, Hunters can keep bigger Monsters at a distance and scout ahead deeper into the Forest. The ranged weapons can only defeat Monsters with little or no armor, while their technical skills are only enough for small Artifacts.

Hunters take up to three Forest Cards from one column. They may only take Forest Cards that are marked with a Crosshair and a maximum of one Forest Card per Type: so max one Monster, one Artifact, and one Item.

Mateja has a big haul with her Hunter! She chose the optimal column and can take an Artifact and a Monster worth 7 Experience in total plus a Hammer. In the other column there are only cards without Crosshairs, so the Hunter cannot take them.

Cooks

Beside the Forest, the Cooks are competing for the favor of the newcomers. Duels of flavors and smell are fought. While the other Groups must prove themselves before the king, the opinion of the Adventurers is the only thing that counts for the Cooks. The best dishes convince Adventurers to join your Faction. When the Fire in the fire pits die out, the Cooks also venture into the Forest. Do not underestimate how hard they can hit. How would they otherwise be able to stop all the hungry Adventurers from snatching away food before it is ready?

Cooks take three face up Adventurers of their choice from the Camp. Cooks may not draw from the Adventurer Deck. Place chosen Adventurers face down on your Dormitory. They will be available the next Day.

cooking pot = sword: On the last Day, your Cooks count as if they were Warriors. They can be played on their own or combined with Warriors and can also be played as Leader.

Daniela takes a Water Buffalo, a Technician, and a Hunter. During the next day she wants to get the edge on her opponents with these new Heroes. She places them face down on her Dormitory.

Pets

The animals support the other Classes where they are most needed. They help scouting the Forest and what kind of king is not amused by cute Pets?

Pets can be combined with other Classes during the Planning Phase to increase the Group Strength. Pets can never be Leaders of a Group.

B) Your Group is weaker.

If your Group is weaker, place all the Heroes of that Group, including the Leader, face down on your Dormitory. Draw one Adventurer from the face down Deck and place it face down on your Dormitory.

C) Your Group is tied.

If your Group is tied for the determination of the strongest Group, the position of the Flag breaks the tie. Of the players involved in the tie, the tied player whose Flag is closest to the King's Tent wins the tie.

Check the position of your Flag. If you win the tie, take your Flag and move all other Flags to the left to fill the gap. Then place your Flag to the rightmost place at the end of the line. Afterwards, continue as described in A). If you lose the tie continue as described in B).

In a four and five player game, the player placed second in a tie for the strongest Group has the second strongest Group.

Steven, Daniela, and Mateja play Warriors with Group Strength 3 each in the first Planning Space. Mateja's Flag is the leftmost Flag at the moment therefore she wins the tie and takes part in the Expedition. She moves her Flag to the end of the line and takes one Monster or one Item (= Action of the Warrior) as the first player. Timo's Flag is in first place now, but he is not part of the tie. Daniela's Flag is left of Steven's Flag, so she also takes part in the Expedition. She moves her Flag to the end of the line and takes one Monster or one Item afterwards as the second player.

Continuation of the Action Phase

Should you discover that you formed a Group with a Pet as its Leader or formed it with not combinable Classes when revealing it, your Group is treated as if it was a weaker Group. Continue as described in B).

If you left a Planning Space empty, you are skipped during the resolution of that Expedition. Continue as described in B).

After the first Expedition is fully resolved, the second and third Expeditions are resolved in the same manner.

Refill the empty spaces in the Camp with face up Adventurers from the Deck at the end of each of the three Expeditions. When the last Adventurer is drawn from Set 1, place the prepared Set 2 Deck in its place and continue to refill.

The second Expedition of Day 2 is being resolved. The players reveal their Group Stacks on the second Planning Space. Timo played Hunters with Group Strength 7, Steven played Cooks with Group Strength 3, Mateja played a single Technician with Group Strength 1, and Daniela played Hunters with Group Strength 5.

1) First, Mateja takes the Artifact worth 7 Experience. She discards the required Arc Fist and places the Artifact face down next to her Screen. Afterwards, she discards the Technician onto the King's Tent.

2) Timo's Hunters are the strongest Group, so he executes the Action of the Hunters first. He takes an Artifact worth 2 and a Monster worth 5 Experience and places them face down next to his Screen. He then discards the Leader onto the King's Tent and places the remaining Heroes face up on his Party Tent.

3) Daniela can execute the Hunter Action second. She has less choice, but her Leader has the Special Ability to take an additional Forest Card of the same Type. She takes two Monsters, worth 2 and 3 Experience, and a Jetpack. She places the Jetpack face up next to her Screen and the two Monsters face down next to her Screen. Then she discards her Leader onto the King's Tent and places the remaining Heroes face up on her Party Tent.

4) Steven takes three of the face up Adventurers from the Camp and places them face down on his Dormitory. Afterwards, he places his entire Group of Cooks face up on his Party Tent because Cooks are never discarded to the King's Tent.

5) After the Cooks Action, the second Expedition is over and the empty spaces in the Camp are refilled with new Adventurers from the Deck. The players reveal the Groups on the third Planning Space and start to resolve the third and last Expedition of that Day.

4. Reset Phase

The royal guards are patrolling the Forest border before nightfall to ensure the Camp's safety. While another Day comes to its end, the Fires are burning lower. During the night, you can hear movement in the Forest.

Remove any remaining Forest Cards from the bottommost row. Then move all Forest Cards down in their columns. Refill the empty spaces with new Forest Cards from the Stack. In the four-player game, the marked spaces are not used.

Finally, remove the topmost Fire Card and start the next Day with the Refresh Phase.

cooking pot = sword: This symbol reminds you on the Day before the last Day that Cooks will count as Warriors on the last Day. When you remove the last Fire Card you play the last Day.

The Artifact and the Monster in the bottommost row are discarded. The remaining Forest Cards are moved down, and the empty spaces are refilled. As this is a four-player game, the spaces marked with the Hamlet symbol are not used. The topmost Fire Card is removed and the next Day begins.

Game End - Who becomes a Legend?

After the Action Phase of the last Day, the game ends. Every player counts the Experience on their collected Monsters and Artifacts, including the Starting Artifact. Every unused Item is worth 1 Experience. Heroes are not worth any Experience. The player with the most Experience wins!

If there is a tie between two or more players, the tie is resolved by the position of the Flags. The tied player whose Flag is closest to the King's Tent, wins the tie.

Two-Player Game - There can be only one

In a two-player game, 5 Days are played. Each Day there are only two Expeditions, but two Groups are played per Planning Space. Place the second Group 90° offset on the first Group to not mix them up. Both Groups of one Planning Space are revealed simultaneously. The Classes execute their Actions in the same order as in the multiplayer game. It is forbidden to play the same Class in both Groups on the same Planning Space.

Adventurers - The Special Abilities

The Adventurers may use their Special Abilities only if they are Leaders of a Group that take part in an Expedition.

Water Buffalo (paw, paw)

The reliable Water Buffalo is welcome everywhere.

When you combine the Water Buffalo with another Class, both Pet Symbols increase the Group Strength. The Water Buffalo can never be the Leader of a Group.

Repeated Class Symbols (sword, sword, sword / wrench, wrench, wrench / net, net, net)

These Heroes already traveled on countless adventures.

Count the additional Class Symbols when determining the Group Strength.

Carried Items (Item icons)

These Heroes bring along useful Items for the Expeditions.

The depicted Item fulfills the requirement for taking a Forest Card. You do not need to have the Item or discard an Item.

Batteries

The Batteries of this Hero can recharge used Items with new energy.

Keep the required Item when you take an Artifact, but you need to have the required Item to take the Artifact.

Hunters in disguise (three empty squares)

These Hunters are masters of disguise.

You may take Forest Cards from any row instead of any column. You still can only take one Forest Card per Type and with a Crosshair.

Hunters who loot more (Monster / Artifact / Batteries)

These Hunters can loot more than others on an Expedition.

Take an additional Forest Card with a Crosshair. Two Forest Cards may this way be from the same Type.

Additional directly adjacent Forest Cards

The following Adventurers can take additional specific, directly adjacent Forest Cards. Diagonal Cards are not adjacent. If these Forest Cards require an Item, you must discard it to take the Forest Card. The following Special Abilities are not used if you take an Item as the first Forest Card.

Technicians who fight (Artifact in the centre, a Monster above, to the left and to the right)

Some Technicians can fight pretty well on their own.

After you have taken an Artifact, you may take the smallest, directly adjacent Monster.

Warriors who loot (Monster in the centre, an Artifact above, to the left and to the right)

Not all Warriors are just interested in fighting.

After you have taken a Monster, you may take the smallest, directly adjacent Artifact.

Warriors with lances (one Monster directly above another)

With their enormous lances, these trained Warriors can defeat two Monsters at once.

After you have taken a Monster, you may take the Monster directly behind it.