Thunder Road: Vendetta – Carnival of Chaos Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Parts List
• Setup
  • Cars Command Reference
• How to Play
  • Scrap
  • Damage & Eliminations
  • Witness Me!
  • Entering the Arena
  • Keep Cool Till We Get There
• Driving in the Arena
  • Leaving the Arena
  • Direction Die
  • Arena Movement Examples
• Super-Weapons
• Party Favors
• Killer Pillars
• Spotlight Spaces
• Choppers
• Tina's Turn
• Winning the Game
  • Ties
• Party Favor Reference
• Tina's Turn Decrees
• Clarifications
  • Super-Weapons
• Using Other Expansions
  • Big Rig Final 5
  • Carnage at Devil's Run
  • Choppe Shoppe
  • Extra Ammo

Parts List

• 25 Scrap tokens (plus extras)
• 6 Super-Weapon tokens
• 35 Party Favor tokens
• 9 Killer Pillar tokens
• 1 Foundation board (double-sided)
• 1 Arena board (double-sided)
• 9 Tina's Turn cards (plus two blank cards)
• 6 Witness Me! cards
• 12 Super-Weapon cards (plus two blank cards)
• 1 set of player vehicles, dice, dashboard, and command board

Setup

Follow the base game setup with the following changes:

1. Decide which side of the arena you want to play with. (The Haulasseum side is easier, and the Slaytona 500 side is more brutal.) Place the matching side of the foundation board in the center of the table. Choose 3 road tiles and fit them into the foundation board as shown. (You can use any road tiles on any sides.)
2. Place the arena board on top of the foundation board. (It will overlap part of the road tiles.)
3. Leave all hazard tokens from the base game in the box. Instead, mix the party favor tokens face down. Randomly place a party favor face down on each hazard space on the road tiles and each marked party favor space on the arena board. If you are using any starting road tiles, place party favors on all of their hazard spaces, regardless of player count. Return the remaining party favors to the box without looking at them.
4. Place each killer pillar token on the space marked with its letter on the arena board. All killer pillars start with the road side up.
5. Place a super-weapon token on each marked space on the arena board. Shuffle the super-weapon cards and place the deck face down near the arena board.
6. Shuffle the Tina's Turn cards. Place 5 of them in a face-down deck near the arena board. Return the rest to the box without looking at them.
7. Create a supply of scrap near the arena board. (Scrap is not a limited resource. If the supply runs out, use a proxy.)
8. Each player takes the Witness Me! card of their color.

Cars Command Reference

The setup diagram (page 5 of the rulebook) shows the Cars command reference, printed as follows:

• Airstrike (dice value Any): Place your chopper on an empty space and shoot with it.
• Nitro (dice value 1-3): This car gains moves equal to the value of this die.
• Drift (dice value 3-5): Ignore the first slam your car would have this turn.
• Repair (dice value 6): Remove one damage token from one of your cars.

How to Play

Follow all base game rules, except when instructed otherwise in this rulebook or on components. Each round, each player takes 3 turns as normal, then Turbo Tina takes a turn (see Tina's Turn). The game continues for 6 rounds or until any 1 player has no operable cars (see Tina's Turn).

Scrap

The coin of the realm here is scrap – to win, you need to get as much as you can. You can get scrap from the supply in the following ways:

• When an opposing car is damaged on your turn, gain 2 scrap.
• When an opposing car is eliminated on your turn, gain 3 scrap.
• If you have an operable car in a spotlight space on Tina's Turn, she rewards you with scrap (see Tina's Turn).
• Certain party favors award scrap at the end of the game (see Party Favors).
• Once per game, you can play your Witness Me! card on your turn to gain extra scrap each time you shoot or slam that turn (see below).

How much scrap each player has is public information.

Damage & Eliminations

During your turn, you gain 2 scrap each time an opposing car gains a damage token, and 3 scrap each time an opposing car is eliminated. This scrap can stack (e.g., if an opposing car takes one damage and is eliminated on your turn, you get 5 scrap total). It doesn't matter what causes damage or an elimination. If it happens on YOUR turn, and it's NOT your car, YOU get the scrap.

If an effect would cause damage to a car, but the car doesn't gain a damage token (e.g., it's already inoperable), no scrap is awarded. No one gains scrap if a car is damaged or eliminated during Tina's Turn.

Witness Me!

Each player starts the game with a Witness Me! card. Once per game, at the start of your turn, you may play your card. For the rest of that turn, you gain 1 scrap each time you shoot or slam, regardless of the result. This is in addition to any scrap you gain normally. At the end of your turn, return your card to the box.

Entering the Arena

Each of your cars must start the game on a different road tile. During the first round, the first move you make with each car must be onto a road tile that you have not previously moved a car onto.

The white arrows at the entrances to the arena board show how you may move from an adjacent road tile into the arena. These spaces are considered adjacent for moving, shooting, and other effects. In the example below, the orange car may enter arena space 1 or 2 on its next move.

Keep Cool Till We Get There

Cars and choppers may NOT shoot while they are on a road tile, EVEN AFTER THE FIRST ROUND IS OVER.

A vehicle may ONLY shoot while it is on the arena board. When it does, it may target a car in its front arc as usual (including a car on a road tile).

This restriction only affects shooting. Cars may still slam each other on road tiles normally.

Driving in the Arena

Unlike spaces on road tiles, spaces in the arena are symmetrical. Cars moving in the arena follow these rules:

• Like in the standard game, in the arena, you may move your car to any of the three spaces in its front arc. The direction a car physically faces indicates which 3 spaces are in its front arc (see examples below).
• Unlike in the standard game, the direction your car is facing may change when you move. When you move an active car into an arena space that is NOT straight forward, turn it to face in the direction it moved (so its rear points to the space it just left). This includes moving from a road tile into the arena.
• Whenever a car is forced to move (e.g., by a slam or damage effect), do NOT change the direction it faces.
• Whenever a car slams another car, immediately turn the bottom car to face in the same direction as the top car. (The top car follows the above movement rules, depending on whether it's the active car or it was forced into the slam.)
• If a car becomes inoperable in an arena space, flip it upside down without changing its direction. If it becomes operable again later, flip it back up, facing the same direction.

Leaving the Arena

You may NOT deliberately move an active car from the arena back onto a road tile. However, a car may be FORCED to move back onto a road tile (e.g., by being slammed). When this happens, turn the car to face toward the arena.

If a car ever moves off of an edge of the arena board where there is NO adjacent road tile, it is eliminated.

Direction Die

The shape of the spaces in the arena do not match the shape of the spaces on the direction die. Whenever the direction die is rolled in an arena space, orient the die so its icons point in the direction the affected car is facing. (The die's icons are labeled Front Left, Front Middle, and Front Right.)

Arena Movement Examples

Sam assigns a 3 die to her medium car. She must move it 3 spaces, orienting the back of her car to the last space she was in. Some possibilities include:

• Front Left: Sam could drive left and slam Ethan's car. If she does, she'll first turn his car to align with hers, then resolve the slam.
• Front Middle: Sam could drive straight forward and shoot Tony's car in her front arc.
• Front Right: Sam could drive right and stay on the road. This would let her use an extra 1 move from the road die to get to the party favor.

Super-Weapons

You collect a super-weapon when your car ENDS its movement on a space with a super-weapon token. This includes any additional movement from the road die, slams, damage effects, etc. – even if it is on another player's turn or during Tina's Turn. Draw the top card of the super-weapon deck and place it face-up above the dashboard for that car to indicate which car has that weapon.

You can use that super-weapon as indicated on the card. Note that some super-weapons prevent that car from shooting as normal during the shoot step.

• A car cannot have more than one super-weapon.
• If a car ends its movement on a super-weapon token and already has one, nothing happens, and the weapon remains for another car to claim it later.
• Once a car has a super-weapon, it does not drop it, even if it takes damage or is slammed.
• If a car with a super-weapon is eliminated, remove the super-weapon from the game.

Party Favors

Turbo Tina has scattered some sweet swag around the Carnival. You collect a party favor token from a space when your car ENDS its movement on it. This includes any additional movement from the road die, slams, damage effects, etc. – even if it is on another player's turn or during Tina's Turn. You can use your party favors with any of your cars, regardless of which car collected it. You may look at the party favor, but keep it face down until you use it.

Once you collect a party favor, you can use it for the effect indicated on its card (see Party Favor Reference below).

• Unless stated otherwise, you can only use a party favor during your turn. If you pick up a party favor on your turn, you can use it immediately.
• If the effect refers to "your car," it refers to the car you assigned a die to during your assign step.
• You can use any number of party favors on your turn.
• After you use a party favor, remove it from play.

Killer Pillars

Killer pillars are giant obstacles that pop out of the arena to smash cars and cause havoc. Each killer pillar starts as a road space, but can flip to become an impassable space during Tina's Turn (see Tina's Turn) or when the Killer Pillar party favor is used (see Party Favors). If a car is on a killer pillar when it flips to the impassable side, the car is immediately eliminated.

Spotlight Spaces

If any of your operable cars are on a spotlight space during Tina's Turn, she rewards you with the amount of scrap shown on her card (see Tina's Turn). Spotlight spaces are considered obstacles, so choppers can't be placed on them. Passing through them has no effect.

Choppers

Just like a car, the direction a chopper is physically facing determines which 3 spaces are in its front arc. When you place a chopper in an arena space, you choose which adjacent space it faces. Choppers cannot be placed on party favor tokens, super-weapon tokens, spotlights, or killer pillars.

Tina's Turn

Turbo Tina takes her turn at the end of each round, after each player has taken 3 turns. Flip the top card from Tina's draw pile and resolve these 3 effects in order:

1. Spotlight: Each player with at least one operable car in a spotlight space gains the amount of scrap shown on Tina's card. (You do not gain additional scrap for occupying multiple spotlight spaces.)
2. Killer Pillars: Flip each killer pillar token shown on Tina's card to its impassable side and immediately eliminate any cars on them. Flip all other killer pillar tokens to their road side.
3. Decree: Read Tina's decree, then place her card face up near her draw pile, covering her previous face up card. Her new decree remains in effect until the end of next round. NO ONE CAN CONTRADICT TINA. HER DECREE OVERRULES ALL OTHER RULES AND EFFECTS.

Winning the Game

The game ends in either of the following ways:

• If any player is out of the game, the game ends at the end of the current round (after Tina's Turn).
• If Tina's draw pile is empty at the start of her turn, the game ends immediately (the end of round 6).

When the game ends, each player with at least 1 operable car counts up their scrap (including Solid Gold Muffler party favors). Any players out of the game cannot win and do not count their scrap.

The player with the most scrap wins.

Ties

If there is a tie, the tied player with the most operable vehicles wins. If there is still a tie, the tied player with the most super-weapons wins. If there is still a tie, the player with the most unused party favors wins.

Look, there are no ties in Thunder Road: Vendetta! If the players are STILL tied, the tied players roll all of their movement dice – the high total wins. Keep rolling until the tie is broken. All other players must watch while all tie-breaking is resolved and actively cheer for (or taunt) one of the players.

Party Favor Reference

• Bootleg Turn: Play before moving. This turn, you can change the direction your car is facing any number of times, and move through all other cars without slamming them.
• Double Barrel: Play before moving. You may shoot before moving. (You may shoot again after moving as normal.)
• Full Throttle: Play after moving. You may use this effect even if you coasted. You may use this effect after resolving other effects that happen at the end of your move step, such as slams or picking up a party favor or super-weapon. You must move all 3 spaces.
• Killer Pillar: Play at any time on your turn. Choose one killer pillar and flip it to its road side. Choose another killer pillar and flip it to its impassable side. You can play this token in the middle of resolving another effect, such as a slam or damage effect.
• Mega-Repair: Play at the start of your turn before assigning your dice. Remove 1 damage from EACH of your cars. You may use this effect so you can repair a car and then move it. If all your cars are eliminated or inoperable, you are out of the game and may not play this token.
• Precision: Play before an FX die is rolled on your turn. Instead of rolling, set the die to any face you choose. Once the die is set, it cannot be rerolled.
• Solid Gold Muffler: At the end of the game, this party favor is worth 2 scrap. It is not worth anything during the game.

Tina's Turn Decrees

• Commit to the Crash! – Slams cannot be rerolled. When resolving a slam, neither die can be rerolled. Effects that determine which car moves or its direction without rolling a die resolve as normal, e.g., Torsion Dynamo.
• Danger Ahead! – When this decree is revealed, set the direction die to straight forward. Use that result to resolve any effects that would use that die. (Active decree: the direction die is set to straight forward for all slams and other effects.)
• In the Mood for Mayhem! – After shooting with your car, resolve the effect of any damage token as normal. Then, if you have a valid target, you may shoot another time. Gain scrap for each damage you deal. (Active decree: cars in the arena can shoot an additional time after moving.)
• Let's Get Wild! – When rolling to resolve a slam, also roll the stunt die. The car that is moved moves that many spaces in the direction indicated. Ignore all spaces in between. If a larger car calls for a reroll, reroll all three of the dice. (Active decree: cars moved in a slam roll the stunt die to see how far they move, ignoring all spaces in between.)
• Let's Keep It Close! – If you shoot and hit the car of a player who has more scrap than you, immediately take 1 scrap from them and add it to your own. Then, gain 2 scrap as normal for dealing damage. (Active decree: if you shoot and hit the car of a player with more scrap, steal 1. Then, gain scrap as normal for dealing damage.)
• Whatever It Takes! – When assigning a die to your command board, you can use any value. For the nitro command, use the value of the die you assigned, even if it is higher than what you could normally assign. (Active decree: players can assign ANY value die to their commands.)

Clarifications

Super-Weapons

• Amplifier: Fully resolve any effect on the damage token, including any resulting slams. Then, if the car you hit is not eliminated, immediately resolve the effect again. Reroll any dice needed to resolve the effect the second time, e.g., Blast Off or Dazed.
• Auto-Cannon: Once, during this car's move step (including before or after it moves), you may shoot another car. Resolve any damage effect. Then, if it has moves remaining, continue moving your car as normal. That car may also shoot again during its shoot step if able. Gain scrap for each damage you deal.
• Big Friendly Gun: If the target has two available damage slots, first assign a face-down damage token. Then, assign the other damage token as normal, fully resolving any effect on the damage token. Gain scrap for each damage that car takes. If the target only has one open damage slot, it only takes a damage token as normal.
• Cluster Missiles: When this car shoots and hits, first give a face-down damage token to each car adjacent to the target. Then, give a damage token to the target and resolve any effect on it as normal. Gain scrap for any damage dealt to adjacent cars in addition to the scrap gained for the initial damage.
• Energizer: Fully resolve any effect on the damage token. Then, if your car is still operable, reroll the die you assigned to it and take another turn with that car, assigning the new die as normal. You can continue repeating this effect as long as you continue shooting and hitting another car.
• Laser Kebab: You can choose any target in a straight line from your car's front arc. You do not need to choose the first car in that line and can choose another car farther away. You can shoot at a car that is still on a road board.
• The Thwumper: You cannot shoot with this car. Whenever you could shoot with it, you may use the Thwumper instead. If you do, roll the stunt die and move it that many spaces in a straight line in any direction you choose, ignoring all spaces in between. If it lands in a space without another car in it, give a face-down damage token to each adjacent car. Gain scrap for any damage given this way. If it lands in a space with another car, resolve the slam as normal.

Using Other Expansions

You can use most of the content from other expansions with Carnival of Chaos. In general, if an effect would contradict one of Tina's decrees, ignore the effect and follow the decree. Notes on any specific considerations appear below.

Big Rig Final 5

• You can use the Final Five as normal. Your first three motorcycles must enter on different road boards. Your final two motorcycles can enter on any two different road boards. With this expansion, treat motorcycles as cars for all purposes.
• The Big Rig? No. Absolutely not. The Big Rig is not allowed in the arena. Tina was very clear about that. It knows why.

Carnage at Devil's Run

• You can use any of the alternate road boards to lead into the arena. Fire and other terrain work as normal. Hazards are not used when playing with Carnival of Chaos, including the hazards from this expansion.
• You can use most of the ongoing damage effect cards from this expansion. Faulty Airbag and Dead Alternator have no effect in Carnival of Chaos. Remove them before shuffling the ongoing damage effect deck.

Choppe Shoppe

• You can use all of the crew leaders from this expansion. For Cruft and Madame Boudreaux, treat party favor tokens as hazard tokens.
• You can use most of the upgrades from this expansion. A car can have a super-weapon in addition to an upgrade. Some of them will be more or less useful than in the regular game. The Tank Treads upgrade has no effect in Carnival of Chaos. Remove it before choosing upgrades.

Extra Ammo

• For the Advanced Airstrike module, remove Care Package, Low Flying, Trick Shot, and Scouting Mission before dealing out the cards.
• For the Bonus Command module, remove Nav System and Positraction before dealing out the cards.
• For the One Shot module, remove Radar Array before dealing out the cards.
• The Bounties and Road Condition modules do not work with Carnival of Chaos.