Battlelands Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Components
• Card Anatomy
• Game Setup
• Game Order
• Prepare for War
• Reveal Battle
• Player Turns
  • Playing Unit Cards
  • Equipment Cards
  • Passing
  • Flipping Cards
  • Discarding Cards
• Resolve Battle
• End of Game
• Clarifications
  • Determining a Unit's Strength
  • Move Effects
  • Remains in Play Effects
  • Shiny Objects
• Rules Summary
  • Game Order
  • Prepare for War
  • Battle
  • End of Game

Object of the Game

In BattleLands, 3-5 players will lead armies of small, furry creatures in a war to claim the remnants of humanity. Players will earn scrap by winning battles over territory through clever card play. The player with the most scrap wins the war.

Components

• 42 unit cards
• 9 territory cards
• 27 equipment cards
• 1 first player card
• 5 secret mission cards

(The reinforcement deck is made of the mercenary and equipment cards.)

Card Anatomy

Unit card:

1. Name
2. Strength
3. Row Symbol
4. Ability
5. Active Ability Symbol
6. Scrap Value
7. Faction Name

Equipment card: has a name, a strength, an ability, an Active Ability Symbol, and a scrap value.

Territory card: has a name, a scrap value, and possibly a Secret Mission Symbol (8).

Game Setup

To set up a game of BattleLands do the following in order:

1. Each player chooses a faction and collects all 7 of the unit cards with that faction's name as their starting hand. Any unclaimed factions are set aside and will not be used.
2. Shuffle the mercenary and equipment cards together and form a reinforcements deck.
3. Shuffle the territory cards together and form a territory deck.
4. Give each player a secret mission card and give the first player card to the oldest player.

Game Order

A game of BattleLands will consist of 2 wars, each of which consists of 3 battles. An entire game of BattleLands will proceed in the following order:

• Prepare for War 1
  • Battle 1: 1. Reveal Battle, 2. Player Turns, 3. Resolve Battle
  • Battle 2: 1. Reveal Battle, 2. Player Turns, 3. Resolve Battle
  • Battle 3: 1. Reveal Battle, 2. Player Turns, 3. Resolve Battle
• Prepare for War 2
  • Battle 1: 1. Reveal Battle, 2. Player Turns, 3. Resolve Battle
  • Battle 2: 1. Reveal Battle, 2. Player Turns, 3. Resolve Battle
  • Battle 3: 1. Reveal Battle, 2. Player Turns, 3. Resolve Battle

Prepare for War

To prepare for a war, do the following in order:

1. Draw 3 cards from the territory deck and place them face down in a column near the center of the play area.
2. Draw cards from the reinforcement deck and create a face down row for each face down territory. The number of reinforcement cards in each row is determined by the number of players:
   • 3 Players = 2 reinforcement cards per row
   • 4 Players = 3 reinforcement cards per row
   • 5 Players = 4 reinforcement cards per row
3. War 2 only: Each player returns all the cards in their discard pile to their hand.

Reveal Battle

To reveal a battle, do the following in order:

1. Flip up 1 card from the territory column and all cards in the corresponding row of reinforcement cards.
2. If the revealed territory has the secret mission symbol, each player must commit a unit or equipment card from their hand to the secret mission by placing it face down under their secret mission card. Cards on a secret mission are not considered to be in play. (The player with the highest total strength committed to their secret mission at the end of the game will gain 3 scrap, while the player with the lowest total strength will lose 3 scrap.)

Player Turns

Starting with the first player, and continuing in clockwise order, each player will take turns until all players have passed. On a player's turn they must either play a card from their hand or pass.

Playing Unit Cards

As each player plays unit cards, they will form two rows in front of themselves, a front row (sword symbol) and a back row (target symbol). When playing a unit card it must be played in the row matching its row symbol. If a unit has both row symbols, the player chooses which row they will play it into. Units must be played into a row from left to right, so that the right-most unit in a row is always the unit that was most recently played into that row. The right-most unit in a row will therefore be the "last unit."

After playing a unit card, resolve any active abilities on that card.

Equipment Cards

When playing an equipment card, a player chooses one of their rows with a face up unit card in it. The player then attaches the equipment card to the right-most face up unit card in that row by placing it below that unit. The equipment card adds its strength to that unit. A unit can have more than 1 equipment card attached to it. (The bottom-most equipment card of the right-most unit with equipment in a row will therefore be the "last equipment card.")

(Example: equipment is attached to the right-most face up unit in a back row.)

After attaching an equipment card, resolve any active abilities on that card.

If a unit with 1 or more equipment cards attached to it is ever flipped or removed from play, discard all equipment cards that were attached to that unit. If an equipment card is ever flipped, it remains attached to its unit.

Passing

Instead of playing a card, a player may pass. When a player passes, they claim the card in the face up reinforcement row with the lowest scrap value and add it to their hand. (If more than 1 card is tied for the lowest scrap value, the player chooses from among the tied cards.)

(Example: the player would claim the "Skate Raiders" card because its scrap value is the lowest at -1.)

Once a player has passed, they can no longer play cards into the battle, but the cards they have already played into the battle remain in play. Those cards still count toward their total strength when determining the battle's winner and those cards can still be affected by other players' cards.

If all players but one have passed, that player can continue playing cards until they decide to pass. They will not claim a reinforcement card, as there will be none remaining.

Flipping Cards

Some card abilities cause other cards to be flipped. If a card is face up when it is flipped, it gets flipped to face down and any equipment cards attached to it are discarded. If a card is face down when it is flipped, it gets flipped face up; do not resolve any active abilities on that card.

A face down unit or equipment card has no ability and has a strength of 1.

Discarding Cards

Each player will form their own discard pile. Any time a player is instructed to discard cards, they must place them face up into their discard pile.

Resolve Battle

To resolve a battle, do the following in order:

1. Each player adds up the strength of all the units they have in play.
2. The player with the highest total strength wins the battle and claims the face up territory card, placing it face down in front of them. If 2 or more players are tied for highest strength, the player highest in the turn order wins the tie. (The first player is the highest player in the turn order, the player to the first player's left is second highest, etc.)
3. Each player discards all of their cards from play.
4. The first player card is passed to the player who won the battle.

End of Game

After resolving the third battle of the second war, the game is over. Each player reveals all cards committed to any secret missions that may have happened. Each player with the highest total strength worth of committed cards wins the secret mission bonus of +3 scrap. Each player with the lowest total strength devoted suffers the secret mission penalty of -3 scrap. Each player then totals up the scrap value listed on all of the territories and reinforcements that they have claimed, adding or subtracting any secret mission bonus or penalty. The player with the most scrap wins the game. If there is a tie for the most scrap, the tied player with the most territory cards wins.

If there is still a tie, email [email protected]. Begin the subject line with the word TIE. Include the names of the tied players in the body of the email, each on a separate line. Include no additional information. The tie is then resolved by the publisher's founder in a humorous fashion (alphabet soup, post-cogs and an egg), and the player to whom the resulting name belongs shall forever be the undisputed winner of that game of BattleLands.

Clarifications

Determining a Unit's Strength

For the purpose of resolving all rules and game effects, the strength of a unit is the strength listed on its card combined with the strength of all equipment cards attached to that unit.

Move Effects

Some abilities move a unit to a player's front row or back row. If the affected card is already in the indicated row, it is not moved. If the card is not in the indicated row, move it so that it becomes the right-most unit in the indicated row.

Remains in Play Effects

Some abilities cause a unit to remain in play longer than the end of the current battle. These cards can still be discarded or flipped by other card abilities. Any equipment cards attached to a unit that remains in play remain in play as well.

Shiny Objects

This card is played by following its instructions, even if you have no face up units.

Rules Summary

Game Order

Prepare for War 1 (Battles 1-3), Prepare for War 2 (Battles 1-3), End of Game.

Prepare for War

1. Create a column of 3 face down territory cards.
2. Create a row of face down reinforcement cards next to each territory card. Number of cards per row = number of players - 1.
3. Each player returns their discard pile to their hand.

Battle

1. Reveal a territory card and its row of reinforcement cards. If the revealed territory has the key symbol, each player must put a card under their secret mission card.
2. Players take turns playing cards in front of them. Front row symbol: front row. Back row symbol: back row. Equipment symbol: attached to a unit in a row (equipment). Resolve abilities when the card is played. Instead of playing a card, a player may pass (playing no more cards into this battle) and claim the reinforcement card with the lowest scrap value.
3. Once all players have passed, the player with the highest total strength claims the territory card. Players discard all of their cards from play before starting the next battle.

End of Game

Players reveal the cards under their secret mission cards. The player(s) with the most secret mission strength gain 3 scrap, the player(s) with the least lose 3 scrap. The player with the highest total scrap wins.