Abyss: Leviathan Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• How to Play
• Martial Law
• The Leviathans and the New Allies
  • Continue your Exploration: add a Leviathan
  • The most targeted Border zones
  • Fighting a Leviathan
  • The New Allies
• The New Lords
  • Clarifications
• The End of the Game
• Lexicon

Setup

Place the game elements as described in the basic rules, with the following changes:

1. Leave the Threat track in the basic game's box; instead assemble the Border board and place it to the right of the main board.
2. Carefully shuffle the Leviathan cards, and make a deck out of them; place this deck facedown near the Border. Roll two dice, reveal the first Leviathan, and place it face-up on the zone of the Border corresponding to the total of the dice. Place a Health point token on the upper space of the Leviathan.
3. Deal a value 1 crab Ally from the base game to each player. Then carefully shuffle the new Exploration cards together with those you already have.
4. Take the Tamer from among the Lords from the base game, and return her to the box. Carefully shuffle the new Lords together with those you already have.
5. Make a second deck with the new Monster tokens, which you'll place face-down next to those from the base game. Don't mix the two decks of Monster tokens.
6. Place the dice, the Wound tokens, the figure (the Scourge of the Abyss) and the remaining Health point tokens next to the board.
7. To play with 5 players, one of the players takes the cup from the expansion.

How to Play

All of the game's rules remain the same. This booklet therefore only presents the rules linked to the items specific to this expansion.

• Martial law
• The Leviathans and the new Allies
• The new Lords
• The end of the game

Martial Law

In the basic game, the number of Allies a player can have in hand isn't limited. But now that martial law has been declared, everything changes. If you wish to keep more than 12 Allies in hand at the end of your turn, you must pay one Pearl for each extra Ally. Otherwise, you must discard each extra Ally for which you decide not to pay a Pearl.

You cannot discard Kraken Allies in this way, if you're playing with the Kraken expansion.

The Leviathans and the New Allies

On the Leviathans, you can see:

• The Allied Race(s) which can help you fight them (which always includes a crab). This Leviathan, for example, can be fought with an Ally from the Crab race OR from the Jellyfish race.
• The number of Health points of the Leviathan. Each space corresponds to 1 Health point. As soon as a Leviathan enters play, a Health point token is placed on the highest space of the card. Here, the Leviathan has 3 Health points.
• The combat conditions:
  • The numbers in the arrows indicate the Leviathan's Resistance, which must be equaled or exceeded to make it lose 1 Health point, and thus move the token onto the next space.
  • The Monster tokens, to the right of the arrow, indicate the reward to be claimed if your attack is successful.
• The penalty suffered if the Leviathan attacks you.

During the Explore the Depths action, if the revealed card is a Monster, you still have the choice to continue your Exploration or to fight. But the rules have changed as follows:

Continue your Exploration: add a Leviathan

If you decide to continue your Exploration, you must add a new Leviathan to the Border. Reveal the top card of the Leviathan deck, and then roll the 2 dice. The sum of the obtained results indicates the zone of the Border in which the Leviathan will place itself.

If this zone is free:

1. Place the Leviathan on it and place a Health point token on the upper space of its card.
2. Discard the Monster from the Exploration track.
3. Continue your Exploration.

If that zone is occupied:

The Leviathan already present in the zone attacks you before being moved out by the newcomer; you can't avoid this attack.

1. Suffer this Leviathan's attack by immediately applying the effect of the penalty indicated in the lower right of the Leviathan's card:
   • Receive as many Wound tokens as indicated on the Leviathan. At the end of the game, each Wound token in your possession costs you 1 Influence point.
   • Discard three Pearls. If you have less than three Pearls, discard all that you have. If you don't own any Pearls, this attack has no effect on you.
   • Discard three Allies. If you have less than three Allies, discard all of them. If you don't have any Allies, this attack has no effect on you.
   • Discard one of your free Lords (those who were previously used to take control of a Location are protected). If you don't own any free Lords, the attack has no effect on you.
2. Discard the Leviathan currently in place and replace it with the new one you have drawn. Place a Health point token on the top space of this new card.
3. Discard the Monster from the Exploration track and continue your Exploration.

The most targeted Border zones

The risk of having to place a second Leviathan in the same space of the Border varies depending on the zone:

• Zones 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, and 12: weak risk
• Zones 5 and 9: average risk
• Zones 6 and 8: strong risk
• Zone 7: significant risk

Fighting a Leviathan

If you decide to fight, choose a Leviathan from among those present at the Border and perform the following steps.

1. Calculate your Attack power. Discard from your hand ONE Ally of the requested Race. Then roll ONE die. Your Attack power = the roll of the die + the value of the discarded Ally.

   Important: if you don't have an Ally from the requested Race, you CANNOT fight. You must then continue your Exploration and add a new Leviathan (see p.4).

2. Apply your Attack power.

   • If your Attack power is lower than the Leviathan's Resistance, your attack has no effect on it. Your Ally is discarded, but you still gain 1 Pearl, a meager salary for the risk you've taken.
   • If your Attack power is equal to or higher than the Leviathan's Resistance, it loses 1 Health point. Your attack is successful.
   • If your Attack power is equal to or greater than the sum of multiple Resistance levels of the Leviathan, it loses as many Health points as levels beaten. Your attack is successful.

   When a Leviathan loses one of its Health points, gain as a reward the number of Monster tokens indicated next to the Health point token, then move the health token onto the next space. You can choose your Monster tokens from among those of this expansion, those from the base game, or a mixture of the two.

   • Gain 2 to 4 Influence Points.
   • Depending on the token, gain 2 to 3 Pearls, a Key, or a Council stack.

   If you take the new Monster tokens, you have the option, after having consulted them, of revealing them immediately or revealing them at the beginning of one of your upcoming turns. Once revealed, apply their effect and then discard them.

   When a Leviathan loses its last Health point, it is dead. In addition to the reward for your successful attack, take the Leviathan and keep its card in front of you face-up.

   If you are the first player to kill a Leviathan, take the Scourge of the Abyss.

   As soon as an opponent reaches or exceeds the number of Leviathans killed by the most valorous defender, they take the statue from the player who currently holds it. The player who owns the statue at the end of the game gains 5 Influence Points. The death of a Leviathan ends your turn.

Tips: Encounters with Monsters are perilous and victory is never guaranteed. It is better to sometimes fight and lose time due to a defeat than continue Exploring with the risk of getting wounded. Take care to observe the Leviathans present at the Border to gather Allies of the required Race during Exploration, even those of lower value. And don't forget, a Crab Ally always allows you to fight.

The New Allies

Thanks to their effects, the new Allies can be an invaluable help during battle. To benefit from them, you will have to use one to fight.

• After rolling the die, you can spend as many Pearls as you want to add to your Attack power: + 1 per Pearl.
• To calculate your Attack power, roll BOTH dice and take into account only the higher of the two values.

The New Lords

Each Guild has selected two conscripts from among its most valorous warriors. Thanks to their Powers against the Leviathans, they can lend you a hand in the defense of the Borders. This expansion contains ten new Lords whose Powers you will discover in time as they enter play.

Clarifications

• The Rebel: choose a Leviathan. It loses one Health point as if you had made a successful attack against it. You thus take the corresponding reward. If it was its last Health point, you slay it and keep the Leviathan's card in front of you.
• The Border Guard: the targeted opponent adds a new Leviathan to the Border as if they decided to continue their Exploration after having revealed a Monster (see p.4).

The End of the Game

There are now two additional ways to trigger the end of the game. At the end of a player's turn, if the Leviathan deck OR either deck of Monster tokens is empty, each opponent has one last turn, during which the Monsters which are revealed during Exploration are discarded without effect.

Then calculate your Influence Points as in the base game. Next, subtract 1 Influence Point for each Wound token you own. Finally, add 5 Influence Points to the total of the player who owns the Scourge of the Abyss.

Lexicon

Attack

• Attack power: during a battle against a Leviathan, the player calculates their Attack power. To do this, they add the value of a die and the value of an Ally of the required Race which they then discard (see p.5).
• Successful or without effect attack: for a player's attack against a Leviathan to be successful, their Attack power must be equal to or greater than the Leviathan's Resistance, otherwise the attack has no effect (see p.5).
• Leviathan attack: a Leviathan can attack a player who decides to continue their Exploration. It then inflicts a penalty on them (see p.4).

Border: board divided into numbered zones on which the Leviathans are placed according to the result of the dice.

Conscripts: 10 new Lords whose powers have an effect on the fight against Leviathans.

Health point: each Leviathan has a certain number of Health points which it will lose during battle. A Leviathan is slain when it loses its last Health point.

Leviathan: card representing a fearsome underwater creature that players will be able to fight.

Martial law: rule which forbids players from having more than 12 Allies in hand at the end of their turn, unless they pay the price.

Resistance: number represented in the arrows next to each Health point space of a Leviathan. During combat, a player's Attack power must equal or exceed the Leviathan's Resistance for it to lose a Health point.

The Scourge of the Abyss: a figure which moves from player to player depending on the number of Leviathans each has slain. It designates the most valorous of them.

Wound: token obtained following the attack of a Leviathan. At the end of the game, each Wound token causes the player who owns it to lose 1 Influence Point.