Transformers Deck-Building Game: Dawn of the Dinobots Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Customizing Your Game
• Team Versus Team Mode
  • TvT Setup with a Single Base Set
  • TvT Rules
  • Defensive Assists
  • Dinobots vs Autobots
• One Versus Many Mode
• New Cards
  • Combiner
  • Special Damage
• Specific Card Clarifications
• Reference Chart: Which Cards to Add

Contents

• 43 Main Deck Cards
• 6 Boss Cards
• 5 New Damage Cards
• 8 Move / Power Tokens
• 5 Oversized Character Cards
• 4 Reminder Tokens
• 1 Giant Character Card
• 5 Player Standees with bases
• 6 Constructicon Wrath Cards
• 1 Giant Standee with base

Customizing Your Game

This expansion cannot be played on its own, but offers new cards that can integrate seamlessly with whichever standalone Transformers Deck-Building sets you have, and may be combined with other smaller expansions as well. You are free to customize your main deck to tell the story you want to play. To do so, simply swap out any number of Bosses, Robots, Technologies, Maneuvers, Sites, Allies, and/or Relics with cards from this expansion that have a similar card type and cost. For example, you can replace a cost 5 Maneuver card from the core set with a cost 5 Maneuver from this expansion. If playing with a character like Grimlock who cares about a certain subtype of card (i.e., Dinobots), you may want to swap out Autobot Robot cards with an equal number of Robot cards with the same cost featuring that subtype.

For playable characters, any of the 4 Autobots and 2 Decepticons included in this expansion can be used in the same manner as those from your standalone game belonging to the same faction. Sludge can team up with (or try to outplay) Arcee as readily as Shockwave can join forces with (or oppose) Megatron.

If you're playing Devastator, you need to swap out all 6 of your normal Wrath (or Courage) cards with his unique set of Constructicon Wrath cards. There's more information on playing Devastator on page 5.

Team Versus Team Mode

TvT mode can be played by combining cards from this expansion with either the Transformers Deck-Building Game core set or Transformers Deck-Building Game: A Rising Darkness (or both), offering players a chance to play on opposing teams: Autobots vs Decepticons. Players choose a faction and team up to battle the opposing faction in a 1v1 or 2v2 contest. You may even play Dinobots versus other Autobots if you own the core set, with some small adjustments to the setup for Bosses (see the end of this section on page 4).

If you own both standalone games, you should follow the normal TvT setup instructions as outlined in A Rising Darkness, but feel free to swap out any number of cards with cards from this expansion (as well as from any other game you own) of a similar type and cost. Be sure to shuffle in the new Damage cards (Stasis Lock) into your Damage stack as well.

Otherwise, if you only have access to one of the two games above, or only want to play with one game instead of both, follow the steps below:

TvT Setup with a Single Base Set

1. Choose whichever standalone game you have to play with, either the Transformers Deck-Building Game core set or Transformers Deck-Building Game: A Rising Darkness. You will use all the tokens, cubes, Basic, Encounter, Starter, and main deck cards from that game and set them up as usual. Leave Schemes/Initiatives in the box.
2. Customize your game by swapping out any number of Bosses, Robots, Technologies, Maneuvers, Sites, Allies, and/or Relics with cards from this expansion (and from any other game you have) of a similar type and cost. For example, you can replace a cost 3 Technology from the core game with a cost 3 Technology from this expansion. Feel free to swap out Robots with similar cards that have subtypes your characters care about (Dinobots, Mini-Cassettes, etc).
3. If playing with only the core set, you will need to add all 3 Autobot Bosses from this expansion. Likewise, if you are playing with only A Rising Darkness, you will need to add all 3 Decepticon Bosses from this expansion.
4. Follow the normal setup rules for shuffling in Bosses, but add 2 Boss cards per stack, 1 from each faction.
5. Shuffle in the 5 new special Damage cards (Stasis Lock) with the existing Damage cards and place the stack facedown. If you are playing with A Rising Darkness or other expansions, be sure to also include the 5 special Damage cards from those sets as well. You may add these in without swapping out existing cards.
6. Teams must consist of an even number of players: 1v1, or 2v2. Players choose 1 character from their chosen faction, along with 10 Starter cards. Note: If playing with only one game, both factions will use the same set of Starter cards from the available game.
7. Decepticon and Autobot players sit in alternating positions, so turns alternate between factions when going in clockwise order.

TvT Rules

Most of the rules for a Competitive game apply here, with the following exceptions:

• Only the active player gains the reward when defeating an Adversary. Assisting players earn nothing.
• Adversary players can play "defensive" Assists to aid their faction's Boss who is under attack (see more on defensive Assists below).
• Similar to Co-op mode, your teammates can always assist you regardless of Damage. Unlike Co-op mode, Assists are played facedown.
• Standard Damage does not force Assists to resolve.
• If playing with both the core set and A Rising Darkness, then only Decepticon players may purchase Rise Up! and only Autobot players may purchase Roll Out!. Otherwise, any player can buy either Basic card, whichever is available.
• If a single player ever controls 5+ Damage (including special Damage like Stasis Lock), the game ends immediately and players calculate their combined team VP to determine the winning team. If the player who controls 5+ Damage is the active player, then their team loses 3 VP.
• Otherwise, the game ends when 1 team has defeated all 3 Adversary Bosses or the main deck runs out. In either case, the team with the most VP wins!

Defensive Assists

During the Assist step of a Confrontation (not battling Robots), Adversary players within range may play a "defensive" Assist, facedown, to defend their Boss by adding their card's Power to the cost of the Boss being battled by their opponents. Defensive Assists are played facedown during the same step that offensive Assists are played, all in turn order, and activate their game text when resolved, except that they always resolve automatically after the Encounter's Confrontation text, just before offensive Assists are resolved.

For example, if an Autobot player is confronting Predaking (a Decepticon Boss), a Decepticon player can place a Firepower facedown to assist Predaking. After the Encounter's Confrontation effect resolves, the Firepower card (with 2 Power) would increase Predaking's cost by 2 before any Autobot players resolve their own Assists.

All defensive Assists are discarded in the same manner as offensive Assists, regardless of the battle's outcome. Negative Power when battling Adversaries in Alt Mode also applies to defensive Assists.

Dinobots vs Autobots

Dinobots are Autobots, but you can still choose to pit the likes of Grimlock and Slug against another team of Autobots. For that matter, you can pit a team of any characters from the same faction against each other with a few setup and rules tweaks. Assuming all the characters are Autobots, follow the same TvT setup and rules above, but include only 3 Decepticon Bosses in the setup and no Autobot Bosses (reverse that if playing all Decepticons). Any player may confront these Bosses as you would in an Autobot competitive game, and if at least one player on an opposing team Assists, they also gain the reward. However, players can only gain a reward once per team per battle. If more than one player on a team would gain the reward, it's only awarded to the first of them in turn order. The same holds true for battling Robots when multiple players play Assists and Damage forces them to be resolved.

In most other respects, teams are considered adversaries to each other; they are only on the same side when dealing with adversary Bosses and Robots. Defensive Assists are not allowed in this mode of play. For an added challenge, you can include non-Co-op adversary Schemes (or Initiatives) to the initial setup, and their game text would affect each player.

One Versus Many Mode

In 1vM mode, 2-3 players can battle against a single player. This mode is set up in the same manner as TvT above, and follows the same rules, with the following modifications:

• The single player's starting hand size is 6 in 2v1 and 7 in 3v1. The "many" players' hand size remains at 5.
• The single player's Damage threshold is 7 instead of 5.
• The single player goes first, and turn order is clockwise as usual, with each player getting one turn per round. In a 4-player game with 1 Decepticon player, that would be Decepticon - Autobot - Autobot - Autobot - Decepticon, and so on.

Note: When choosing a character for the single player in 1vM, it's worth considering one with some bonus Power or card draw ability. You won't have other players' assists to help you take down Bosses, whereas your opponents can still play defensive Assists to make it even more difficult. Therefore, not every character will be viable in this mode. Devastator is well suited for it, but other characters (like Megatron and Optimus Prime) are also worthy of consideration.

New Cards

Combiner

Combiner characters like Devastator are playable characters with a larger card size and standee than other characters, and which have 'Team' and 'Combiner' modes instead of 'Alt' and 'Bot.' They come with their own set of Wrath cards that replace their usual counterparts in the starting deck. Otherwise, these characters are treated the same as other characters.

You always start the game in Team Mode. Team Mode represents the 6 Constructicons as individual robots, and while in this mode you can access special Team effects which are printed on your unique Wrath cards. These effects do not carry over if you later Convert to Combiner Mode. However, you do not need to be in Team mode when these cards are played to access their effect later, unless the card tells you to do something specific, like Mixmaster and Scavenger. Those two cards have effects that are triggered when the card is played, so you would need to be in Team Mode when playing them for their effects to resolve.

While in Combiner Mode, Devastator has 2 Power at Range 0 with 1 Move and access to powerful Energon abilities. You may only use this Power to buy or battle cards during your turn, not to Assist. You can also activate Combiner abilities on your Wrath cards when confronting a Boss, potentially unleashing a massive amount of Power against your adversary.

Just like other character modes, you can Convert to Team or Combiner Mode by paying the normal 1 Energon cost or by playing a card that says "You May Convert." However, the act of Converting to Combiner mode also causes you to lose 1 additional Energon if you have it. Not having an Energon to lose does not prevent you from Converting. If you are in Combiner Mode at the beginning of your turn, you also lose 1 Energon. If you have none to lose, you must flip your card back to Team Mode before continuing your turn.

Special Damage

There is a new Damage type called Stasis Lock which is added to your discard pile when gained. When you play it, it prevents you from spending Energon for the remainder of that turn. Add all 5 of these new Damage cards to the game, shuffling them into the Damage stack. If you add them to the core Autobot game, you will need to flip that stack facedown so you'll never know which Damage type is coming your way.

Specific Card Clarifications

Dinobot Characters: The new Dinobot characters included in this expansion are Autobots that have a unique option for battling Autobot Robots while in Alt Mode. With the exception of Swoop, each Dinobot character has some variation of "You may battle Autobot Robots during your turn..." each with different restrictions and/or penalties on how it can be done. Grimlock, for example, must pay 1 Energon to battle an Autobot Robot, and if he defeats it, it goes into his discard pile instead of his Vault. The rules for battling Decepticons remain unchanged.

Dinobot Island: While in this space, all your cards (except for your Character card and Damage) are considered blank. You cannot generate Move or Power or activate game text. Any unspent Move or Power on cards you control are not available. You also cannot be targeted by other players and you avoid attacks and effects that would otherwise cause you to gain Damage.

At the start of your next turn, you can recharge by gaining 1 Energon or repair by returning 1 Damage you control to the stack. Then you must immediately teleport to an adjacent space. Once you leave Dinobot Island, your cards are no longer blank and you can access any unspent resources acquired during your turn.

Kronosphere: This card simulates time travel by allowing you to avoid the effects of an action and reclaim some of the resources spent in the process. If you flip an adversary faceup after this card is in play, you can ignore the Ambush (if any) and flip it back facedown. The Move you spent to search that space is reclaimed and you can spend it elsewhere. If you used game text or paid Energon to search, you can use that game text again, and/or reclaim the spent Energon.

During a Confrontation, once you have flipped and resolved an Encounter card but before Assists are resolved, you can pay 2 Energon to end the Confrontation and continue your turn. Normally, you cannot activate Confront abilities until after Assists are resolved, but this card breaks that rule. Any Assists that were played are returned to their owners' hands, unseen, and any Power you had declared can be spent elsewhere. You may then continue your turn or even initiate another Confrontation if you wish. Note: If the Encounter destroyed one of your cards, you cannot undo that, nor can you reclaim any spent Energon.

Insecticon Clones: The Power granted by this card is limited to the quantity of Robots in your Vault and determined by the quantity you choose to reveal. For example, if you have 3 Robots in your Vault, but choose to only reveal 2 of them, the target card gains +2 Power. If you chose to reveal all 3, you'd gain +3 power and then be forced to discard this Ally.

Logic Puzzle: You can pick up any 3 cards in the Matrix (faceup, facedown, or a combination of both), as long as the faceup cards are not Bosses. Keep them separate from your other cards. Then, decide how to return them to the Matrix, all facedown. Other players do not get to peek at these (unless Shockwave is playing and in range to use his Bot Mode ability).

Me Smash Brains: The player targeted by this card's Attack must choose between destroying a card in their hand (in which case they also choose which card) or gaining 2 Damage. If they have no cards in hand to destroy, they must gain Damage.

Ore-1: If you choose to use this card's ability, activate it as soon as you play it. Count how many cards are left in your hand and then peek at that many cards on the top of your deck (e.g., If you have 3 cards in hand, you can peek at the top 3 cards). If you have less cards in your deck than in your hand, you may only peek at what is currently available.

Once you peek, you must decide to leave the cards there or draw them. If you choose to draw them, you must first discard your cards in hand then put the cards you peeked at in your hand. Now every other player must also discard their entire hand and redraw an equal amount of cards (shuffling their discard pile if necessary). This is not an Attack and cannot be Blocked. Finally, reveal and destroy the top card of the main deck. If it's a Boss, place it in the Matrix instead following normal placement rules.

Trypticon Rises: The "Power" tokens mentioned here are a means to track how much Power you contributed towards thwarting this scheme. If you run out of tokens, use a comparable item (like a VP token) to help keep track.

Reference Chart: Which Cards to Add

The reference chart below is a helpful guide to quickly determine which cards* to add to your game during setup based on the mode of play. (A) and (D) refer to Autobots and Decepticons, respectively.

Mode	Decepticon Bosses	Autobot Bosses	Decepticon Schemes	Autobot Initiatives	Co-op Schemes	Relics
Competitive (A)	✓		✓			✓
Competitive (D)		✓		✓		✓
Cooperative (A)	✓		✓		✓
Cooperative (D)		✓

* Robot, Technology, Maneuver, Site, and Ally cards are always included.