Aberration Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Setup
  • The Map
  • The Great Beast Board
  • The Village Board
  • Player Setup
• Gameplay / How to Play
  • Round Structure
  • The Village Phase
  • The Hero Phase
  • The Great Beast Phase
• Winning and Losing
  • The Goal
  • How you Win
  • How you Lose
• Component Guide
  • Hero Board
  • Abilities and the Ability Board
  • Actions and the Class Board
• The Map & Village
  • The Map
  • The Village
• The Great Beast
  • Shadows & Monsters
  • Influence
• Cards
  • Item Cards
  • Objective Cards
  • Aberration Cards
  • Great Beast Cards
  • Monster Cards
• Glossary
  • Keywords

Overview

Aberration is a cooperative tower defense board game of horror and survival. Where you, the heroes must work together to protect a village from aberrant creatures caused by the presence of the Great Beast. To win, Heroes must "survive the night" by reaching the end of the Survival track. However, fear may overcome you—don't let the Fear track reach its final space before the night is out.

Components

• Village Center
• Scenario Book
• Map Pieces
• Compass Tokens
• Hero Boards, Class Boards, Ability Boards
• Hero Miniatures
• Clip-on Ring Bases
• Villager Center Piece
• Village Board
• Track Markers, Player Bags
• Beast Board
• Item Cards, Aberration Cards, The Great Beast Cards, Objective Cards
• Horde Cards, Monster Miniatures, Monstrosity Cards
• Reference Cards
• Fire/Freeze Tokens
• Wooden Ability Chips
• Villager Meeples, HP Tokens
• Experience Tokens, Shadow Tokens, Trap Tokens
• Objective Tokens
• Parasite Tokens, Vantage Point Tokens
• Dice
• Influence Tokens

Setup

Note: Scenarios will define your board setup. Each Scenario will have a different setup.

1. Select a scenario from the Scenario Booklet.

The Map

2. Place the four Map Tiles as defined in the Scenario on the playing surface and lock them together with the Village Center. This creates the game board.
3. Place the four Compass tokens on the four spots on the map tiles to indicate the four compass directions.
4. Find and place the eight designated Vantage Point tokens on the indicated spots on the Map Tiles.

The Great Beast Board

5. Place The Great Beast Board to one side of the game board.
6. Shuffle the Shadow tokens and place them face down in stacks next to the Great Beast Board. Place a Shadow token on each space of the game board that contains a shadow icon.
7. Place the Influence tokens in a pile next to the Great Beast Board.
8. Shuffle the Aberration Cards and place them face down in the spot on The Great Beast Board.
9. Place the Enemy Cards face up in the 5 spots on The Great Beast Board as directed by the scenario. Note: Scenarios and player count will dictate what level the enemies begin at. Place the indicated monster figures next to each enemy card. (There are three for each horde enemy and one for each monstrosity enemy.)
10. Shuffle The Great Beast Cards and place a number of them equal to the scenario length face down on the indicated spot on The Great Beast Board. Return the rest to the box.

The Village Board

11. Place the Village Board to one side of the game board.
12. Place the Track Markers on the Fear and Survival tracks of the Village Board.
13. Shuffle and place the Item Cards and place them in the indicated side of the Village Board.
14. Shuffle and place Objective Cards equal to the scenario length. Flip the top Objective Card face up.
15. Place the Villagers next to the game board. Place a Villager on each space of the game board that contains a villager icon.
16. Place the Health, Experience, Fire, and Freeze tokens, and Dice next to the game board. Place a fire on each space of the game board that contains a fire icon.

Player Setup

1. Select a Hero, Ability, and Class Board.
2. Take the Hero Miniature associated with your Hero Board then take a Hero Bag and Miniature Clip-On Base in the color of your choice.
3. Seed your Ability Board with Ability Chips.
4. Follow the Set Up instructions on the back of your Hero and Class Boards.
5. Place a marker on your Aberration Track.
6. Draw Item Cards according to the player count: 2p – 4 Item Cards, 3p – 3 Item Cards, 4p – 2 Item Cards.
7. Take a Player Reference Card and place it next to your boards.
8. First Player: The player who was most recently in a forest.

Gameplay / How to Play

Round Structure

Aberration is played over a series of rounds. Each round has three phases:

1. The Village Phase
2. The Hero Phase
3. The Great Beast Phase

The Village Phase

The Village Phase gets the Villagers ready for the current turn. Take all Villagers placed on Village worker placement locations and Vantage Points and return them to the Villager Center. Villagers on map spaces are left where they are.

During the first round of the game, skip this step as no Villagers have been placed.

The Hero Phase

During the Hero phase, each player takes a turn starting with the first player and moving clockwise around the table. Each turn is divided into three steps: the Draw step, the Action step, and the Resolution Step.

Step 1. Draw

During the first step, the current player draws Ability Chips equal to their Intellect from their bag. If there aren't enough Ability Chips remaining in the bag, return all Ability Chips in your discard pool to the bag, mix them up, and continue drawing.

Step 2. Action

The Action step is the most important step of a player's turn. During this step, a player takes actions by:

• Spending Ability Chips. When you spend Ability Chips to take actions, choose an action from your class board or attuned items that match the color of your Ability chips, and place the spent Ability chips in your discard pool on your Hero board. Note that players can spend any color chip to activate their grey abilities at the top of their Class board. During the Action step, you may spend an Ability chip from your Hero board to take an action or place one unspent Ability chip and place it in your Held Action. You may use a Held Action Ability chip during one of your future Hero Phases as though you drew it that turn. Discard any other unused Ability chips, if any, by placing them in your discard pool.
• Playing Item cards. When you play an Item Card to take an action, follow the instructions on the card, then discard it. If it is an attunable item, you may place an Experience token on this card to attune it to your character.
• Spending Experience tokens. At any time during your turn, you may spend Experience to upgrade abilities, unlock new class powers, and attune permanent items. For example, you can spend Experience at the start of your turn to improve your Intellect before drawing your Ability chips for the turn.

You may switch between taking actions with your Ability chips, playing Item cards, and spending Experience tokens as long as you have the means to do so!

Solo Play – Changes to the Hero Phase: Once a player has drawn and spent all of their Ability chips on their turn, the player then draws Ability chips equal to their Intellect again and takes actions until they finish their turn. Once this is complete, gain an Experience token as usual to end your turn. The Great Beast then takes its turn, followed by the Village turn as usual.

Step 3. Resolution

Gain 1 Experience token to signal the end of your turn. Experience cannot be spent until your next turn.

The Great Beast Phase

In the Great Beast Phase, the enemies take control of the game. This is done in two steps: the Encroach step and the Manifest step.

Encroach

During the first step, shadows and monsters advance on the Village Center. Beginning in the North tile and going clockwise, activate each enemy.

When an enemy activates, it moves one space towards the Village Center unless it is in a position where it can attack. After potentially moving, it attacks if there is an available target. Monsters can only attack Heroes and Villagers that they share a space with.

If a monster moves into the Village Center, one Fear is gained if it's a Horde monster that entered, or two Fear if it is a fearsome Monstrosity. Then remove that monster from the board.

Manifest

During the second step, follow the instructions below:

Draw and play the Great Beast card.

a. Level up the indicated Monster. b. Play the Event. c. Spawn Shadows clockwise from the given compass point.

Winning and Losing

The Goal

The goal of the game is to defend the Village. Certain scenarios will require additional goals in order to win.

How you Win

Players win the game by reaching the end of the Survival track. You gain Survival and advance along the Survival track by:

• Completing Objective cards
• Unlocking Vantage Points

How you Lose

Players lose the game by reaching the end of the Fear track. You gain Fear and advance along the Fear track when:

• A Villager dies (it would then be removed from the map)
• Gaining an Aberration card (this is written on the cards)
• Whenever an enemy enters the Village (gain 1 Fear for a Horde or 2 Fear for a Monstrosity, then they're removed from the board)
• A Vantage Point becomes corrupted (if all entry spaces to a Vantage Point have Influence tokens placed on them, remove the Vantage Point from the board)

When any Hero would gain their fourth Aberration card, the players lose.

If players must play a Great Beast card and none are left, the players lose.

Component Guide

Hero Board

The Hero board represents your Hero's identity. In addition to your hero's name and species, it defines your hero's special power and is a place for your Discard Pool, currently Held Action, and starting Ability chips.

Front (top to bottom): Hero Name, Discard Pool, Special Ability, Held Action, Hero Setup.

Back: Hero Background.

Abilities and the Ability Board

Abilities define the capabilities of your hero. There are four different abilities, each represented by a particular color:

• Intellect (Blue) reflects your hero's intelligence and quick thinking. This ability determines the number of ability chips your hero draws during your turn and the amount of damage your traps deal. Intellect actions involve drawing item cards, placing traps, and manipulating monsters.
• Strength (Red) represents raw physical might. This ability determines the amount of damage your melee attacks inflict. Strength actions involve engaging in close combat and unleashing devastating blows upon your foes.
• Speed (Green) measures your hero's physical agility and quickness, impacting both movement speed and ranged damage. Speed actions involve swift movement across the board and inflicting deadly attacks from a distance.
• Command (Yellow) encompasses your hero's leadership capabilities. This ability determines the amount of damage your Village actions deal. Command actions involve assigning villagers and supporting the other heroes in the village.

Each ability is associated with a number representing its level. By spending Experience to upgrade your abilities, you increase their power and likelihood of being drawn during your turn.

Along the right side of the Ability board are four locks. During your turn, you may spend Experience to unlock the respective advanced action on your Class board. Place the Experience token on the lock to indicate that an advanced action is unlocked.

Ability Chips (Intellect, Strength, Speed, Command, Aberration and Hero.) Ability chips are the fuel your hero uses to take actions. In addition to the four main abilities (Intellect, Strength, Speed, and Command) there is also the powerful Hero chips and dangerous Corruption chips. Hero chips can be used as if it were any of the four main abilities, while Corruption chips causes the hero to take 1 damage when drawn and can only be used on general actions.

The Dice

Each die has three unique sides.

• Blank: A miss and no damage is dealt.
• Graze: Usually a hit, dealing 1 damage per graze icon. Some monsters and Heroes have abilities that allow them to not take damage from grazes.
• Aberration Icon: A hit, dealing 1 damage per Aberration icon.

Actions and the Class Board

Your Class board defines the types of actions your Hero can take. You spend your Ability chips to take actions. There are 5 sections of actions, with the top section containing general actions you can use any Ability chip with, and the rest associated with a specific ability.

Front (top to bottom): Class Name, Colors, Aberration Track, Class Setup.

Back (top to bottom): Class Background, Class Setup Instructions, Class Complexity.

Aberration Track

The Aberration track on the right side of the board represents the damage afflicted upon your Hero by the forces of the Great Beast. During set up, place your tracker on the start position. Whenever you take damage, move the pawn up. If you reach the top of the track, draw a Transformation card, and move your tracker back to the start position.

Advanced Actions

Advanced Actions are designated with a lock symbol and can't be used until they are unlocked by spending 1 Experience during your turn. Place the Experience on the ability board to note when the ability is unlocked. There are two special kinds of locked actions that don't require spending Ability chips: UNLOCK and PASSIVE. Actions labelled UNLOCK represent powerful abilities that immediately happen when unlocked and can't be used again for the rest of the game. Actions labelled PASSIVE grant a new Special Ability to the player.

While many actions are easy to understand, some parts require a little context:

• Melee Attack. A Melee attack is an attack against a target in your space. Monsters make counter attacks if they survive being attacked and the original attack is not quick.
• Ranged Attack. A ranged attack can attack targets that are up to the indicated distance away from your Hero. If the distance is Sight, the attack can attack a target that is on your current board section. Monsters make counter attacks if they survive the attack and are within counterattack range. A monster is within counterattack range if it is in the same space as the Hero, or if it has the ranged keyword and is in an adjacent space.
• Area Attack. An area attack damages all Monsters and Shadows in the attacked space. Does not include Heroes and Villagers.
• Quick Attacks. Some Area, Melee, and Ranged attacks are also Quick attacks. Monsters do not make counter attacks against quick attacks.
• Safe Space. A safe space is a space with no enemies in it.
• Assigning Villagers. To assign a Villager, place it in one of the worker placement spots in the Village center or on a Vantage Point.
• Traps. Trap tokens can be placed by a Hero with access to them, by spending the required Ability chip to place a trap. When a monster enters a space with a trap, the Hero who placed the trap rolls dice equal to their Intellect and deals that much damage. If there are multiple monsters the Hero chooses which one it targets. The trap is then returned to that Hero.
• Freeze. When a Freeze token is placed on an enemy, it does not activate the next time it would activate. Then, remove the Freeze token.

The Map & Village

Unnamed Village, Forests of the Burach. The defense of this Village and its inhabitants is your primary objective.

The Map

The map is made up of four connected map tiles, called boards. Each board has a number that corresponds with a compass point in each scenario. Several effects in the game refer to "boards", e.g. "Secure Vantage Points on the South Board". Map spaces denote starting Shadows, Fires, and Villagers.

Fires. Uncover a shadow when it shares the same space as a fire.

Villagers. Can be sent to worker placement locations to perform a variety of special effects and attacks. If a Villager ever takes damage from a monster it dies and is removed from the map, which moves the Fear marker up one space.

Vantage Points. Vantage Points are locations players can interact with, once their listed activation cost has been paid (discarding matching Ability Chips to those listed on the Vantage Point via a connected space or the Fortify worker placement space) players gain the listed rewards, flip over the Vantage Point and unlock a new worker placement space for the remainder of the game that Villagers can be assigned to.

The Village

Village Center. The Village Center is where all assigned Villagers regroup at the beginning of each round. Note: Any Villagers that are not assigned or already in the Village Center remain where they are.

Watchtowers. The watchtowers in The Village are worker placement locations that allow players to assign a worker to perform a Villager Attack. You may target any space on the boards the watchtower specifies above the watchtower icon.

Village Action – Watchtowers: Make a Ranged Sight attack targeting a board you can see.

Fortify, Light a Fire, Scout, Shopkeeper. See 'Village Board'.

Village Board

Village Tracks. The Fear track (Defeat) and Survival track (Victory). These tracks show the progression players have made towards winning or losing. A variety of effects will move the markers up these tracks.

Village Actions. Worker placement effects that trigger once a Villager is placed on the corresponding Village Center action space. The effects are listed on this board only as a reference, Villagers are never placed directly on this board.

The Great Beast

The Great Beast is a mysterious and malevolent entity that corrupts everything it touches and the mere sight of it drives one mad. Ultimately, the Great Beast is your opponent.

The Great Beast Board. In the face of the Great Beast, you can't win – you can only survive. To win, you must hold back the creatures of the darkness and defend the Village.

Shadows & Monsters

The Great Beast's nearby presence drives corrupted creatures towards the village you protect. At first, these creatures materialize as foreboding shadows lurking at the edge of darkness. Shadow Tokens are placed on the map at the start of the game and during every Great Beast phase.

At the start of the game, shadow tokens should be arranged in piles so the shadow side is visible. A shadow is revealed when it is in a space with a fire, or when it is in or adjacent to a space with a Hero or Villager. To reveal a shadow, flip it over to see what it is: a Monster, a Villager, or an Influence token.

When a monster is revealed, it will show which of the five different types of monster it is. Replace the shadow with a monster standee. If no standees/miniatures remain, activate all monsters of that type. Sometimes, the revealed monster will have an On Reveal power which happens immediately. The possible On Reveal powers are:

• Herald – When Revealed: This monster levels up.
• Incite – When Revealed: Advance a Monstrosity, if none are present, this enemy advances.
• Leap – When Revealed: Advance 2. Move through Heroes, Villagers, and Traps. Movement stops adjacent to the Village.
• Spawn – When Revealed: Spawn monster III in this space.

If a villager is revealed, take a villager from the supply and place it in the revealed shadow's space.

Finally, if an Influence token is revealed, place the influence token at the first space on the path as described in the Influence section.

Influence

Influence tokens show the growing power the Great Beast has over the village. Throughout the game, Influence tokens will be added by shadows and Great Beast Event cards.

Influence tokens are always placed on the first space on a path that doesn't currently have an influence token. When placing a token that isn't on the end of a path, slide it down the path and place it on the first space that doesn't already have an influence token. If the path forks, Influence tokens are placed from left to right, filling up the leftmost path first until that path is fully occupied by influence tokens, then go down the other path of the fork.

Fires can prevent the spread of the Great Beast's influence. If you would place an influence token in a space with a fire token, the Influence is negated and the fire is extinguished, removing both tokens from the board.

Nothing may move into a space with an influence token. If an influence token is placed on a space with something in it, first move everything in that space towards the village center. Heroes and villagers moved in this way take 1 damage.

Cards

There are five types of cards: Items, Objectives, Transformation, Great Beast Events, and Monsters.

Item Cards

Item cards represent anything from mundane equipment to magical treasures. There are two types: single use items and attunable items.

Single use items are used during your turn and then placed into the discard pile. There is no cost to playing a single use item.

Attunable items require Experience to use. When you play an attunable item, place the card in front of you with the spent Experience token on it to indicate the item is attuned. Unlike single use items, nothing immediately happens when you play an attunable item. Instead, these cards unlock new actions or passive abilities for your Hero.

Exploits

All items have an exploit use representing a second function. There are 5 types of exploits that provide an immediate second use for an item card:

• Act: The current player draws 1 Ability chip. Usable during any player's turn.
• Alter: Change an Ability chip's color for one action. Usable during any player's turn.
• Block: When a source deals damage to you, prevent 1 damage. Usable whenever you take damage.
• Lucky: Reroll any number of dice. Usable whenever the dice are rolled.
• Smite: Add 1 damage to an attack. Usable whenever any player deals damage with an attack.

Exploits can be played outside of your turn, as noted with each type of exploit above. When you use an item card for its exploit ability, the card is discarded and can't be used for its normal abilities. Exploits on attuned items do not require attunement.

Objective Cards

Objective cards help focus the Heroes' attention, all in an effort to keep the darkness at bay. These cards come in two forms:

• Cards like "Coordinated Attack" simply need you to fulfil their requirement to complete.
• The second Objective card type you'll find is one like "Eyes on the Enemy", Objective tokens are placed on these cards each time you fulfil their requirements. To complete this card you must meet the requirements a number of times equal to the player count.

Aberration Cards

Aberration cards transform your Hero into an Aberrant Horror! They will cause you to gain Fear but also allow you to gain access to new abilities.

These cards are drawn when a Hero reaches the top of their Aberration track. This card is placed next to the Heroes boards and remains there for the remainder of the game.

Aberration cards are either ongoing passive effects like "Protruding Bones". Or effects that trigger when playing Aberration chips like "Keen Sight".

Great Beast Cards

Great Beast cards are negative effects that happen each round as a result of the Great Beast being in close proximity.

When a Great Beast card is played follow the steps below in order:

1. Activate all Shadows and Monsters.
2. Draw and play one of The Great Beast cards. a. Level up the indicated Monster. b. Play the Event. c. Spawn Shadows clockwise from the given compass point.

Monster Cards

The Great Beast spawns many horrors, unrelenting and always in a hurry.

Horde monsters spawn frequently and while a Hero can handle a single Horde monster on their own, be careful, one can quickly be outnumbered and overwhelmed.

Monstrosities are large, fearsome monsters that pose a significant threat to the Village. They always travel alone and will unleash devastating effects on anything that gets in their way.

Glossary

Keywords

Keyword	Effect
Herald	When Revealed: This monster levels up.
Incite	When Revealed: Advance a Monstrosity, if none are present, this enemy advances.
Leap	When Revealed: Advance 2. Move through Heroes, Villagers, and Traps. Movement stops adjacent to the Village.
Spawn	When Revealed: Spawn monster III in this space.
Aggressive	When Activated: Activate twice.
Parasite	When Activated: Place a Thornlamm token on this enemy's card. Tokens are removed when they +/- damage.
Regenerate	When Activated: Remove all damage from this enemy.
Armour	When Attacked: Cannot be dealt more than 2 damage per attack.
Flying	When Attacked: Only Ranged attacks damage this enemy.
Ranged	When Attacked: Counter-attacks Heroes' Ranged attacks.
Stealthy	When Attacked: Only Melee attacks damage this enemy.
Plague	When Attacking: If damage from this enemy causes a hero to gain a Transformation card, also gain a Plague token.