Brave & Bold: Bag Building Combat Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Gameplay Overview
• Objective
• Key Concepts
• Setting Up the Game
  • Competitive Play
• Playing the Game
  • Watchtower Phase
  • Preparation Phase
  • Combat Phase
    • Special Abilities
    • Using the Damage Counter
  • Power-Up Phase
• Resolving a Crisis
• Tokens
  • Basic Tokens (x1)
  • Crisis Tokens
  • Double Tokens (x2)
  • Power-Up Tokens
  • Critical Mass Tokens
  • Other Tokens
• Game Actions & Icons
• Alternative Formats
  • 2v2 Team Battle
  • 3v3 Team Battle

Gameplay Overview

Brave & Bold is a fast-paced, competitive bag-building combat game. Each turn plays out as a tense push-your-luck skirmish between rivals, where you draw tokens from your arsenal (bag)—combat, agility, focus, resources, character boosts, and crises—deciding whether to keep digging or stop and trigger your character's ultimate combos. Surviving the draw lets you spend tokens to unleash character-specific abilities, trigger combos, and acquire stronger tech from the Hall of Justice. Each round you also restock your arsenal or raid the Hall of Justice Armoury before combat continues.

Objective

Your goal is to be the last hero (or villain) standing.

Your starting damage limit is defined by the game format and is tracked using the damage counter. When the counter reaches zero the first time, your character becomes injured (as marked by the injured marker) and must recover damage using a successful recovery action.

If a player fails to recover damage while injured or their damage counter is reduced to zero while they still have an injured marker in play, they are defeated.

You win when you have defeated all other opponents.

Key Concepts

This game plays out through simultaneous actions as all players collectively move through the 4 primary game phases: the Watchtower Phase, the Preparation Phase, the Combat Phase, and the Power-Up Phase. Each character has their own specific abilities and special actions which are taken during each phase, as identified on their character ability card. If there is a discrepancy between this rulebook and any character ability card, the character's ability takes precedence.

Mastering the flow of bag-building and combat is essential to succeeding in this game. During the natural flow of the game, you will be drawing tokens from your bag into the current draw pool, allocating tokens from your pool to unlock abilities on your player board, and unleashing those abilities against your opponents. At the end of each turn you will Resupply, Rebalance and Reload your bag. As you develop strategies to manage the tokens in your bag, you will find unique combinations that can lead you to victory.

When drawing from your bag, there will be multiple crisis tokens. If you ever draw 3 of these tokens, a crisis is triggered and you must resolve it during the current turn. A crisis will greatly hamper your ability to progress, as you will not be permitted to participate in the Combat or Power-Up phases but instead follow specific steps to resolve it (see Resolving A Crisis).

In this rulebook, the basic game play rules are outlined for a 1v1 format. Specific rules for 2v2 and 3v3 formats are outlined under Alternative Formats.

Also for clarity, the term token refers to a token that is put in your bag, the term marker refers to special markers that get placed on your player board to indicate a special status (ie injured or a special ability).

Definitions for highlighted terms can be found under Game Actions & Icons. On the player boards, character cards, tokens and other game components there are icons which signify specific game actions. Definitions of character special abilities and their icons are found on the character ability cards.

Setting Up the Game

Choose your heroes and villains from an ever-growing roster of DC characters. Each player selects a character to play (ie Superman vs Lex Luthor). After selecting your character, unfold that character's playset and assemble the components to create your play area: lay out the Player board, Character Ability Card, Helper Card and Token Tray.

Player board: A - Finishing Move, B - Bonus Table, C - Abilities, D - Crisis Meter. Character Ability Card: E - Starting Bag, F - Special Abilities, G - Recovery Ability, H - Character Special Token Definitions.

Using the token tray, separate out your Basic (x1), Crisis, Utility, Reverse, and Character (Crest & Specialty) Tokens and place them in the compartment marked SUPPLY.

• Each character supply should have 29 Basic Tokens: 8 combat, 10 resource, 6 agility, 5 focus; plus 8 crisis tokens, 6 utility tokens and 1 reverse token. Most characters have 8 crest tokens, at least 4 specialty tokens and some have additional basic tokens as a part of their set. (Each player will have spare tokens in their set.)
• The other 2 sections of the tray are where you will place your CURRENT DRAW, and the token DISCARD as they are used to trigger abilities.

Combine your Double tokens (x2) and Power-Up tokens with your opponent's tokens and the 2 critical mass tokens to create the Hall of Justice Armoury in the designated bag.

• Each player should contribute 12 Double tokens: 4 combat, 4 resource, 4 agility AND 17 Power-Up tokens: 4 combat, 4 resource, 4 agility, and 5 focus. Critical Mass tokens are included on the punchcard with the first player marker. (Each player will have spare tokens in their set.)

Randomly select 6 tokens from the armoury bag and place them between the player boards (the Armoury).

Combine the challenge cards of both players into a single deck, shuffle and place between both players.

Set your damage counter to the appropriate limit (60 for a 1v1 game) and keep it in your play area. Your damage counter may be referenced by you or by your opponent at any time during the game.

Place your bonus markers next to the tracker on your player board. Put the injured marker and special ability markers next to your Character Ability Card.

Follow the steps outlined on the Character Ability Card to create your starting arsenal in your bag.

Determine the starting player for the first turn: A player shuffles the challenge deck. An opposing player then randomly cuts the deck and reveals a card. The player whose character's crest is shown on the chosen card is the starting player and takes the first player marker. Read the card aloud and place this card face up at the top of the discard pile. This card becomes the first challenge card of the game.

Competitive Play

In competitive play one player may supply all the shared tokens and armoury bag for both players; or these may be supplied by the event organizer (this is to prevent players accidentally losing their shared tokens). If you are using coin capsules to protect your tokens, both players must be using them, and they must be of the same type. The tokens are sized to fit in a standard 25mm x 2.3 mm coin capsule.

Challenge cards must also be either sleeved or un-sleeved. When using sleeves, all the cards must match in color and material.

Playing the Game

Each turn of the game happens in phases, with all players completing their actions simultaneously for the Watchtower, Preparation and Combat phases. Character Ability Cards may have special abilities which trigger at specified points during the phases. Remember to trigger those abilities at the appropriate time.

While learning to play: We recommend for the first couple of games that these phases be played in player order, starting with the player who has the Justice League starting player marker. In competitive play, the event organizer may specify if the Combat phase must be completed in player order to ensure fairness and to make judging easier.

Watchtower Phase

During this phase complete these 3 actions in order (on the first turn skip this phase as all actions are completed during set-up):

1. Determine starting player for the turn. The player with the lowest value on their damage counter at the start of this phase takes the Justice League starting player marker. If two or more players have equal health and the lowest value, the player who previously had the marker retains it.
2. Reveal the top challenge card from the deck. This card will only affect the active turn. After reading the card aloud, place this card face up at the top of the discard pile. This card may be referenced by either player at any time during this turn. If you are unable to draw a new challenge card, the game immediately ends, and the player with the higher value on their damage counter is declared the winner.
3. Perform your Recovery Ability. This is outlined on your Character Ability Card. Any tokens drawn during this action are returned immediately to your arsenal bag.

Trigger any Watchtower phase special abilities from your Character Ability Card.

Preparation Phase

During this phase you will draw tokens from your bag. Place them in the designated compartment in the token tray labeled CURRENT DRAW. If you have abilities that trigger before, during or after your draw, be sure to use them at the appropriate time.

• Draw tokens one at a time, from your arsenal bag and add them to your current draw.
• As you draw tokens, you may gain additional bonuses; place one of your bonus markers on the space in the bonus table to identify which bonuses have been achieved by the non-crisis tokens in your current draw. Most bonuses achieved may be used to trigger abilities during the Combat phase; resource bonuses are also added to your resource pool and used during the Power-Up phase.
• If you draw a crisis token, place it on the crisis meter on your player board. If you draw a third crisis token, a crisis is triggered (see Resolving A Crisis).
• If you draw a focus token, you may secretly look at the top card of the challenge deck. This card will be played during the next Watchtower phase, and this knowledge will help you prepare.
• You may choose to stop drawing tokens at any time. Once all players have decided to stop drawing new tokens, notify the other players that you are moving to the Combat Phase.

Combat Phase

During this phase you will use the tokens from your CURRENT DRAW plus any bonuses to trigger character abilities on your player board. Complete this phase by taking the following actions:

1. Trigger any combat phase abilities – If you have any special abilities that trigger during the combat phase, use them now.
2. Calculate Bonuses – Determine which bonuses you've achieved by checking the bonus markers placed on your bonus table. You are eligible for bonuses based on the number of non-crisis tokens you pulled from your arsenal during the Preparation phase.
3. Allocate tokens – place the tokens from your current draw onto the abilities you wish to trigger on your player board. You may only use a token once per turn, any unused tokens remain in your CURRENT DRAW, and will be returned to your arsenal during this turn's reload (see the reload action during the Power-Up phase).
4. Activate Abilities – once you have filled the necessary token requirements, activate the abilities from your player board. At this point you acquire special abilities and/or other bonuses as indicated. Any damage dealt by these abilities are added to your damage pool.
5. Calculate your total resource pool – this is equal to the total of all resource tokens, including any tokens used to activate abilities, any doubles, and bonuses achieved.
6. Calculate the total damage pool – this is equal to the total damage of any activated abilities plus one for any unused combat tokens, and bonuses. Deal that much damage to your opponent. There are two kinds of damage – normal damage may be defended against or modified by a character ability, indefensible damage, as indicated by its icon, may not be defended against or modified. Once your damage pools have been calculated, and damage has been dealt, place the used tokens in the designated section of the tray labeled DISCARD.
7. Finishing Moves – every character has a finishing move as indicated by its icon. Any damage from this move is not included in the damage pool. This move deals additional damage and unlocks special abilities as indicated on your character ability card.

Special Abilities

On your character ability card, unlock unique special abilities by activating the ability on your player board with the corresponding icon. These icons match the markers included with your set. Place the corresponding special ability marker on the space on the card to indicate the special ability has been unlocked and available for use. Each marker represents one stored use of that special ability. Some special abilities have multiple markers, you may place an additional marker each time a special ability is unlocked and there are still markers available in the supply. Each time you use a special ability, you remove one marker, and return it to the supply.

Using the Damage Counter

The damage counter is set during game setup based on the format you are playing (for 1v1 start at 60). When a player takes damage, they reduce the value of their damage counter. When you reduce your opponent's damage counter to zero they become injured and they place their injured marker on their player board. If they are unable to recover damage during their next recovery action, they lose the game. If they do recover, play continues—if you reduce their damage counter to zero again while their Injured marker remains in play, you win the game.

Power-Up Phase

During this phase, you will Resupply, Rebalance and Reload your arsenal. If you have character special abilities that trigger during the Power-Up phase, be sure to use them at the appropriate time. The player with the first player marker gets to complete their actions first.

1. Resupply – players may use the resources from their resource pool to purchase up to 3 additional unique tokens from either the Character Supply or the Hall of Justice Armoury:

Character Supply	Cost	Hall of Justice Armoury	Cost
Basic (x1)	2	Double (x2)	3
Crest	3	Power-Up	4
Special	3	Critical Mass	10 (combat OR agility tokens)
Utility	5
Reverse	5

If no armoury tokens were purchased, each player chooses 2 tokens from the armoury to replace by drawing new tokens from the Hall of Justice Bag. Any tokens replaced are returned to the bag.

2. Rebalance – players count the number of non-crisis tokens in their arsenal bag (including any new tokens acquired and those in the discard this turn) and add or remove crisis tokens if necessary.

Number of Non-crisis Tokens in Bag	Minimum Crisis Tokens Needed
Less than 17	3
17-20	4
21-24	5
25-31	6
32-39	7
40 or More	8

3. Reload – take all of your newly acquired tokens as well as all the tokens from your discard and any that may be remaining on your player board and put them back into your arsenal bag.

After all players have completed these actions, proceed to the next Watchtower phase. Play continues until an injured player's damage counter is reduced to zero. If all players are defeated in the same turn, the final damage is resolved in player order, and the winner is the last one standing.

Resolving a Crisis

A crisis occurs when a player draws their third crisis token from their arsenal (bag). If you draw 3 crisis tokens during the preparation phase, you do not participate in the Combat or Power-Up phases. Instead, you must use this turn to resolve a crisis by taking the following actions:

1. Calculate your total resource pool – this is equal to the total of all resource tokens, any doubles, and bonuses achieved. No abilities may be activated.
2. Calculate the total damage pool – this is equal to 1 damage for each combat token in the current draw, plus bonuses. Deal that much damage to your opponent. No abilities may be activated.
3. Resupply / Rebalance / Reload – you may only purchase up to 2 unique tokens from either the Character Supply or the Hall of Justice Armoury. Rebalance and Reload as normal.

Tokens

Basic Tokens (x1)

Basic Tokens all have an x1 on the back indicating they are single use only.

• Combat – These tokens can be used to activate character abilities OR to inflict damage on an opponent.
• Resource – These tokens can be used to activate character abilities AND create a player's resource pool for acquiring new tokens during resupply.
• Agility – These tokens can be used to activate character abilities.
• Focus – These tokens can be used to activate character abilities OR may be used when drawn to look at the top card of the challenge deck, place the used token in your discard.

Crisis Tokens

Pulling 3 of these tokens triggers a crisis, forcing a player to skip the Combat and Power-Up phases.

Double Tokens (x2)

Double Tokens all have an x2 on the back, these tokens have the same value as 2 basic tokens of the same type (Combat, Resource or Agility).

Power-Up Tokens

Power-Up tokens have additional symbols on the back, indicating their enduring ability while in play. These tokens have the same value as a basic token of the same type for triggering character abilities or calculating pools.

• Combat – This token can be used to activate character abilities AND when drawn, the player recovers +2 damage.
• Resource – This token can be used to activate character abilities AND allows a player to purchase an additional token from their Character Supply OR from the Hall of Justice Armoury during resupply. This purchase costs one less resource token.
• Agility (2:1) – This token can be used to activate character abilities AND when drawn, the player draws an additional 2 tokens, picks one and returns the other to their bag.
• Focus (-1) – This token can be used to activate character abilities AND when drawn, the player may remove a crisis token from their crisis meter and return it to their bag.

Critical Mass Tokens

These tokens can be used to activate character abilities OR during the Combat phase, if activated for matching 10 tokens: the player targets an opponent, they are immediately injured and take additional indefensible damage equal to their remaining damage counter.

Other Tokens

• Utility – May be used as a substitute for any x1 combat, resource, agility or focus token when activating a character ability.
• Reverse – When drawn, place on your player board with your active special ability markers. May be used immediately after drawing any token to return that token back into the bag and redraw. When used place this token in your discard.
• Crest Tokens – Each character has crest tokens, with a unique symbol that represents that character. These tokens are used to activate abilities on a player's board.
• Character Special Tokens – Some characters have special tokens. These tokens have specific game effects that are described on the character ability card.

Game Actions & Icons

• Activate Abilities – Abilities on a player board which have all the required spaces filled are considered activated. Damage dealt by activated abilities is a separate action when added to the damage pool. A player's Finishing Move is not considered an ability.
• Activate Finishing Move – If a player has activated their finishing move, resolve it by dealing additional damage, and following the instructions on the character card.
• Allocate Tokens – Players take tokens from the current draw to activate character abilities or their finishing move. Place allocated tokens on the space provided on the player board.
• Arsenal / Arsenal Bag / Bag – These terms are interchangeable and are used to describe your bag and the tokens you have within it. If an ability allows a player to search their arsenal, the bag must be shuffled after the effect resolves.
• Bonuses – Players obtain bonuses by drawing more tokens from their arsenal. The number of non-crisis tokens needed to achieve a bonus and its result is indicated on your player board. As you progress in the current draw, mark your progress on the player board with the bonus markers. Bonuses may also be awarded by a special ability, challenge card or game action. Bonuses are not considered tokens for abilities or game effects that target tokens.
• Character Ability Card – Each character set comes with a supporting card which defines the initial arsenal set-up, special abilities, recovery ability and instructions for using the character tokens in that set.
• Character Special Abilities & Markers – These are defined on the Character Ability Card. Each special ability has a corresponding icon which appears on the player board and on the ability markers. Unlock a special ability by activating the corresponding character ability on the player board and place the marker for that ability on the Character Ability Card. Each marker represents one stored use of that special ability. When the ability is used, remove one marker.

Alternative Formats

2v2 Team Battle

In this format, players divide into teams with 2 heroes competing against 2 villains. During set-up the Hall of Justice Armoury only needs the Double, Power-Up and Critical Mass tokens from a 2-player game. Combine all 4 sets of challenge cards and shuffle them into one deck.

• Each player sets their damage counter to 40.
• The game ends when both players on either team are injured and have their damage counter reduced to zero.
• When dealing damage, you specify which of your opponents is the target of the damage pool. You may also split your damage pool between opponents. Finishing move damage may only be applied to a single opponent.
• Teammates can combine their resource pools to purchase higher cost tokens, however each player may only acquire a maximum of 3 tokens during the Power-Up phase.
• Recovery actions may be applied to either teammate. Both players may use their recovery action on the same player during the same turn.
• If a teammate is about to take damage, your prevent damage ability may be used to prevent or reduce that damage.

3v3 Team Battle

In this format, players divide into teams with 3 heroes competing against 3 villains. During set-up the Hall of Justice Armoury only needs the Double, Power-Up and Critical Mass tokens from a 2-player game. Combine all 6 sets of challenge cards and shuffle them into one deck.

• Each player sets their damage counter to 35.
• The game ends when all 3 players on either team are injured and have their damage counter reduced to zero.
• Teammates can combine their resource pools to purchase higher cost tokens, however each player may only acquire a maximum of 3 tokens during the Power-Up phase.
• Damage in your damage pool may be distributed among opponents. Finishing move damage may only be applied to a single opponent.
• Recovery actions may be applied to any teammate. Multiple players may use their recovery action on the same player during the same turn.
• If a teammate is about to take damage, your prevent damage ability may be used to prevent or reduce that damage.