The Heroes of Kaskaria
The Heroes of Kaskaria Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game material
1 game board, 4 scaled griffins (in 4 colors), 4 cliff runners (in 4 colors), 55 playing cards (18 x gold cards, 9 x scaled griffin cards, 18 x cliff runner cards, 9 x "+2" cards, 1 x waterfall card), 80 pieces of gold, 1 magic amulet, 1 set of instructions
Game setup
Board fields: 1. Village on the cliff path: starting point for the cliff runners. 2. Village at the waterfall: starting point for the scaled griffins. 3. Card arrangement (display). 4. Draw pile. 5. Discard pile. 6. Volcanic crater: trolls' lair.
Setup the game board in the center of the table and place the gold treasure pieces next to the board. Place the magic amulet on the volcano field in the middle of the game board.
Choose a color and take the two corresponding playing pieces. Place the scaled griffins on the starting field to the right, in the village at the waterfall. The cliff runners start on the left, in the village on the cliff path. Place the unused figures back in the box.
Take out the waterfall card and put it to the side. Shuffle the remaining cards and create a draw pile on the appropriate field of the game board.
Each player takes turns drawing cards from the draw pile until they have five cards in their hand. Then take three cards from the draw pile and place them face up on the display fields. Insert the waterfall card somewhere in the bottom half of the draw pile.
Now the adventure can begin!
How to play
Players take turns in a clockwise direction. The youngest hero begins, and has two possible actions:
- Draw a card. Draw a card from the covered draw pile or from the face-up cards. If a card is taken from face-up cards, a new card is immediately uncovered from the draw pile and placed on the display field. Once a card is drawn it is the next hero's turn.
OR
- Play a card and perform an action. If a player has 2 or more cards of the same color in their hand then these can be played together as a card set. The card set can have different motifs - only the color is important. However, only one card set may be played per turn!
The cards in the card set played cause the following actions, depending on their motifs. These actions are carried out immediately:
- Cliff runner or scaled griffin: per card played the associated figure may be moved forward by one field on the respective path.
- Gold: a piece of gold is found on the path. For each gold card played the player may take one piece of gold from the treasure and place it in front of them.
- "+2" card: With this card the player may draw 2 cards - either from the face-up display or from the covered draw pile. They may also take one card from the display and one from the draw pile. If a card is taken from the display then this is IMMEDIATELY replaced by one from the draw pile.
After actions have been carried out the cards are placed face up on the discard pile. Then the next hero takes their turn.
Examples
Mia plays 4 blue cards. She flies with her scaled griffin to the next field, receives two pieces of gold from the stockpile, and may also draw 2 cards. She takes the first card from the display field, which is immediately replenished to fill the 3 spaces, and then takes the second card from the draw pile. Then the cards played are placed face up on the discard pile.
Peter plays 3 orange cards. He moves 2 fields with his cliff runner, and receives one piece of gold from the stockpile. Then the cards he played are also placed on the discard pile.
Waterfall card
The wild waterfall jumbles the card stacks. If a hero draws the waterfall card, or it is uncovered while filling the display fields, the game is immediately interrupted. Place the waterfall card, the discard pile and the draw pile on top of each other, shuffle all of the cards and place them as a new draw pile on the appropriate fields. Then the game continues at the point it was interrupted.
Important hero rules
- A hero may not be too careful! A maximum of 10 cards is allowed in a player's hand; at the latest during their next turn they must play a card set.
- A hero may have companions! Multiple figures may stand on the same field.
- A hero doesn't let themselves get confused! Watch out! The color of the card set has nothing to do with the color of the playing figures.
End of the game
The game ends as soon as a cliff runner or scaled griffin reaches the trolls' lair in the volcano and snatches the magic amulet back. The player whose figure reaches the volcano may place the magic amulet with their pieces of gold. The remaining actions of their played cards are then carried out.
Final scoring
The heroes receive additional pieces of gold based on the position of their scaled griffin and cliff runner. The players who made it closest to the volcano displayed more courage, and therefore receive a greater portion of the treasure. If two or more heroes are on the same field they receive the same number of gold pieces.
No position is skipped in the scoring: even if there are two or more heroes in first place, the next hero receives the gold pieces for second place.
To make things easier, an overview of the gold distribution for final scoring is illustrated on the game board:
- Any heroes with a cliff runner/scaled griffin in first place each receive seven pieces of gold.
- Any heroes with a cliff runner/scaled griffin in second place each receive four pieces of gold.
- Any heroes with a cliff runner/scaled griffin in third place each receive one piece of gold.
- The heroes with a cliff runner/scaled griffin in fourth place go home empty-handed.
- The amulet counts as two gold pieces.
Example
The hero with the yellow cliff runner, who reached the volcano, receives 7 pieces of gold and also the magic amulet, which counts as two pieces of gold. The heroes with the green and red cliff runners, who are both in second place, each receive 4 pieces of gold. The hero with the blue cliff runner, in third place, receives 1 piece of gold.
The hero with the blue scaled griffin receives 7 pieces of gold because they are in first place. For the green scaled griffin in second place the hero receives 4 pieces of gold, and the hero with the yellow scaled griffin in third place receives 1 piece of gold. The hero whose red scaled griffin is in fourth place receives nothing.
Then all heroes add up the gold pieces they received in the final scoring and those they received previously. The hero with the most gold pieces wins, and receives the adoration of the entire population of Kaskaria. If the scores are equal, the hero who rescued the amulet wins.
Versions for particularly brave Kaskarians
The basic rules of the game apply, but with the following changes in how to play cards, and their actions:
- A hero must be fast! If a hero plays two cliff runner cards of the same color then they may move their cliff runner 3 fields instead of 2.
- A brave hero is rewarded! A player who plays 2 gold cards of the same color receives 5 gold pieces from the stockpile instead of 2.
In this version, players who risk more and wait for lucrative cards are rewarded.