20 Strong: Solar Sentinels
20 Strong: Solar Sentinels Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
Solar Sentinels contains 45 conflict cards, 4 boss cards, 3 hero cards, 12 mission cards, a rulebook, and a deck box. You will also need the 20 dice, chip, and chip holder from base 20 Strong.
Winning and Losing
To win Solar Sentinels, you must defeat one of the bosses.
You can only trigger this final confrontation once you have defeated or discarded all 15 conflict cards in at least one of the three stacks.
As in all games of 20 Strong, if your Health is ever reduced below 1, you lose.
Setup
- Create the dice pool. Set the 17 unit dice in the dice pool.
- Create the stacks. Shuffle the 45 conflict cards and divide them into three face-up stacks of 15 cards each, placed in the middle of your play area.
- Choose your hero. There are three double-sided hero cards, with six heroes in total to choose from. Select one to use and place it above the conflict card stacks. Place the three stat dice beside your hero, set to the values shown on the hero card.
- Shuffle bosses. Shuffle and set the four boss cards in a face-down deck to the side. A boss will not be faced until the endgame, but some cards may allow you to interact with this deck.
- Missions. If this is your first game, we recommend you play without missions. If playing with them, shuffle the mission cards and deal out four of them, from left to right, at the top of your play area. Then, choose one mission to discard, leaving the other three in the same order they were dealt. Place the chip in the chip holder with its counter side face up near the missions.
Game Adjustments
Rounds in Solar Sentinels follow the common rules of 20 Strong with the following adjustments.
Activation: Mandatory Enemies
Some enemies' names are printed in orange and feature a unique border. These cards are mandatory enemies. When activating cards, if one or more mandatory enemies are on top of the stacks, you must choose one of those cards to activate.
Cleanup: Stack Discard
During the Cleanup step, you must choose the top conflict card from one of the stacks and discard it. However, you cannot choose a mandatory enemy to discard. If all of the top cards are mandatory, do not discard a card that round. Mandatory enemies are not restricted from being discarded in other ways, such as through rewards or effects.
Game Layout
The game layout diagram labels the following areas: Exhausted Area, Discard, Bosses, Missions, Chip, Dice Pool, Stat Dice, Hero, Inventory, Stacks, and Active Area (dice and enemies).
The hero card diagram labels: name, starting health, starting strategy, starting recovery, and ability.
The enemy card diagram labels: level, name, health, damage, effect, and reward. Mandatory enemies are marked by an orange border.
The boss card diagram labels: name, health, damage, and effect.
Enemy Levels
The enemies in the conflict stacks have two levels, 1 and 2. This is used for some conflict effects and rewards. Bosses are enemies of their own level.
Stack Management
Any time the top card of a stack is removed — whether activated, discarded, or moved in some other way — the next card immediately becomes the new top card for that stack. This is done before resolving +[skull icon] on a newly-activated card, making the newly-revealed card available to be activated.
The boss deck is not a stack. Keep its discard separate. If the boss deck runs out, shuffle its discard to form a new deck.
Missions
You may choose to play without missions, and we recommend doing so for your first game so you can become familiar with the basics of the gameplay.
Your aim is to complete all of the missions before endgame. For each incomplete mission you have when you start the endgame, you must add +[skull icon] to the boss's entourage.
Missions are completed by satisfying the conditions on the card. You must complete mission cards one at a time, in order from left to right. Once you complete the leftmost mission, flip it face down and start the next. The conditions of a mission can only be met while it is your current mission. For example, a mission requiring you to defeat a certain number of enemies does not count enemies defeated before it became the current mission.
Several missions require tracking the number of times something has occurred. Use the counter side of the chip to track your progress in these missions.
You may forfeit a mission at any time, setting it aside in order to move on to the next mission. However, in endgame, all forfeited missions count as incomplete and add +[skull icon] to the boss's entourage.
Dwindling Stacks
As the game goes on, you will begin to empty stacks. At the start of any round after at least one stack has been emptied of all conflict cards, you may decide to face the boss in the endgame. If all three stacks are empty, you must start the endgame.
Ignore empty stacks for all game effects. Cards cannot be returned to a stack once empty; if one would be, discard the card instead. If more enemies would be activated than remain in the stacks (due to +[skull icon]), activate as many as possible and ignore the rest.
Endgame
You can choose to move to the endgame at the start of any round once at least one stack has been emptied of all cards. However, you are not forced to start the endgame unless all three stacks are empty.
Set up the endgame as follows:
- Activate a boss. If a boss is already revealed (some rewards and effects cause this), activate the revealed boss. If not, activate one of the four bosses at random. Read the boss's card in full.
- Activate the Entourage. Every boss card has +[skull icon] on it. Activate the indicated number of enemies from the stacks as normal (mandatory enemies must be activated over non-mandatory enemies). Remember to activate any enemies added as a result of incomplete missions as well. Ignore +[skull icon] on entourage cards. If there are not enough cards remaining in the stacks to fill the entourage, take all of the conflict cards in the discard and shuffle them together into one new stack.
The endgame is played according to standard endgame rules. When the boss is defeated, the game is won, even if the boss's entourage remains. Some bosses may have additional or alternate win conditions.
Difficulty Ranking
For an escalating challenge, you may use the following optional difficulty ranking. The ranking system starts at Rank 1, which plays as the normal rules describe (with missions included). Each time you win a game, move to the next ranking. Each time you lose a game, move back to the previous ranking. Rank 6 is the highest ranking possible — do you have what it takes to achieve Senior Solar Sentinel status?
For each rank you have achieved beyond Rank 1, during setup, you must either banish one die or exhaust three dice. You must also draw and complete one additional mission for each rank above Rank 1, as outlined below.
| Ranking | Draw | Complete |
|---|---|---|
| 1: Solar Soldier | 4 | 3 |
| 2: Solar Specialist | 5 | 4 |
| 3: Solar Sergeant | 6 | 5 |
| 4: Solar Staff Sergeant | 7 | 6 |
| 5: Solar Sentinel | 8 | 7 |
| 6: Senior Solar Sentinel | 9 | 8 |
Flow of a Round
Activation
- Activate one enemy (mandatory enemy if there is one).
- Resolve +[skull icon].
Engagement
- Strategy Phase (repeat = strategy stat)
- Commit Dice
- Roll Dice
- Apply Dice
Resolve Phase
- Suffer Damage
- After Effects
- Exhaust Dice
- Recover Dice
- Gain Item Rewards
- Cleanup
- Discard all active cards.
- Discard one non-mandatory from stacks.