Waking Shards Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Modes
• Duel (2 players)
  • Set up
  • How to play
  • Playing a round
  • Taking a turn
  • End of the round
  • Winner
• Units & Shards
• Tips and Hints
  • Note
• Team Game (2 versus 2)
  • Team up!
  • Set up
  • Playing a round
  • Taking a turn
  • End of the round
  • Winner
• Free For All (3-4 players)
  • Note
  • Set up
  • Playing a round
  • Taking a turn
  • Winner

Components

• 20 card deck
• 5 supplementary cards
• 10 victory tokens

Game Modes

Depending on the number of players, you will be playing slightly different game modes. The game is best learned when playing the Duel game mode.

Duel (2 players)

Set up

Set aside the 5 supplementary cards. Find the cards Shard of Time and Shard of Zeal and randomly assign one of these to each player. These are the initial Shards and they start the game in play. Shuffle the rest of the cards to form a face down deck. The player who owns Shard of Time plays first.

How to play

Waking Shards is played in a series of rounds. Each round represents a skirmish for the Shards. Each round will consist of several turns.

Playing a round

Each player draws 4 cards from the deck, chooses one of their cards and discards it. It's recommended that players reveal their discarded card simultaneously so as not to give information to the opponent! All discarded cards are placed face up next to the deck to form the discard. You can now start taking turns.

Diagram (play area layout): In Play - Player 2 (top row), Deck and Discard (centre), In Play - Player 1 (bottom row).

Taking a turn

During your turn, if your hand is not empty you must play one card. Put the card in play, in front of you, read it out loud and apply all its effects. After a card has been played, your turn ends and your opponent plays their turn.

Keep taking turns until all players' hands are empty.

End of the round

When all players' hands are empty, the round ends. Players then count the total power of the Units they have in play. The player with the strongest army wins the round and gets a victory token. If players are tied for the strongest army, the tiebreakers are as follows:

• The player who owns Shard of Zeal wins.
• No one owns it? Then the player with the most Units in play wins.
• Still tied? Then the player who played earliest in the round wins.

If Shard of Time is no longer in play, the winner of the round plays first in the next round. To play the next round, take all the Units in play and all cards in the discard and shuffle them back into the deck. Shards stay in play!

Winner

The first player to collect 3 victory tokens wins the game.

Units & Shards

Cards can either be Units or Shards. Units help you win rounds by making your army stronger. They can be Scouts, Mages, Warriors or a Titan. You can identify this by reading the name of the Unit. Shards have powerful effects and stay in play between rounds. Some Shards let you take actions at the beginning of your turn. You can take these actions only right before playing a card for your turn and only once per turn. Additionally, if multiple effects occur simultaneously, the player who is currently taking a turn chooses in which order to resolve each effect. A lightning icon on the top of a Shard card means the Shard's ability can only be used once per round. You will find this icon in Shard of Fortune and Shard of Nature.

Card diagram labels: "Unit's Power" (shown as three gold pips under a Unit card) and "Use only once per round" (lightning icon on a Shard card).

Tips and Hints

• If a player has no cards in hand, they can still use their Shards as normal during their turn.
• If you miss with Recruiter Scout or Forge Mage, put the card you looked at back on top of the deck.
• When using Shard of Fortune or Shard of Nature you can turn the card sideways to show that it's already been used this round.
• If Shard of Fortune or Shard of Nature are discarded or change owners, they reset and their ability can now be used once again.
• Initial Shard cards have marks on them to remind you which ones to use with different numbers of players.

Note

If the deck ever runs out of cards, shuffle the 5 supplementary cards and use them to form a new deck. At the end of the round take the 5 supplementary cards and set them aside again before starting a new round.

Team Game (2 versus 2)

The rules for Team Game are the same as in the Duel game mode with the following exceptions:

Team up!

Form 2 teams of 2 players each. Team mates sit alternately around the table and information can only be shared out loud.

Set up

Initial Shards are Shard of Time, Shard of Zeal, Shard of Fate and Shard of Power.

Playing a round

At the start of each round players draw 3 cards and discard 1 (instead of drawing 4 and discarding 1.)

Taking a turn

Turn order is clockwise.

End of the round

The player who wins the round gets a victory token for their team.

Winner

The first team to collect 4 victory tokens wins the game.

Free For All (3-4 players)

Note

This game mode is best enjoyed among advanced players.

The rules for Free For All are the same as in the Duel game mode with the following exceptions:

Set up

Initial Shards are Shard of Time, Shard of Zeal and Shard of Fate for 3 players, plus Shard of Power for 4 players.

Playing a round

At the start of each round players draw 3 cards and discard 1 (instead of drawing 4 and discarding 1.)

Taking a turn

Turn order is clockwise.

Winner

For 3 players, the first player to collect 4 victory tokens wins. For 4 players, the first player to collect 3 victory tokens wins.