Bury Me in the Rift Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Goal
• Units
  • Attack Examples
• Turn Order
• Monsters Move + Aim
• Monsters Attack
• Detect
• Spawn
• Status Tokens
• Campaign
• Adjusting Difficulty
• FAQ
  • Map
  • Buildings
  • Water
  • Status tokens
  • Monster attacks
  • Attack directions
  • Detect and Spawn
  • Finale effects
  • Map effects on yellow objective cards
  • Player actions
  • Multiple monsters from the same monster card

Components

• 9 Cards
  • 8 Mech cards
  • 8 Pilot cards (mini)
  • 6 Map cards
  • 6 Objective cards (mini)
  • 6 Monster cards
  • 1 Campaign card
  • 1 Reference card
• 4 dice
  • 1 Mech A die (green)
  • 1 Mech B die (blue)
  • 1 Campaign die (any color)
  • 1 Monster die (any color)
• 20 pieces
  • 4 Monster meeples (colors 1-4)
  • 4 Monster cubes (colors 1-4)
  • 3 Ruin tokens
  • 9 Status tokens

Setup

Set out the campaign card (either side). Set the campaign die to 6 on the "Game 1" spot. Then:

1. Put 2 random map cards side by side (flip left to L side, right to R side).
2. Tuck a random pilot beneath a mech (random, or the pilot's starting mech) so the 3 upgrade rows are hidden. Then cover the mech's 3 upgrade rows with the "mech A" portion of the campaign card.
3. Repeat with a second pilot, mech, and the "mech B" portion of the reference card.
4. Put 3 random monster cards in a row.
5. Place corresponding objective cards according to Campaign section.

Monsters have meeples on the map and matching HP cubes on their corresponding monster card to identify them. Mechs are identified by dice color using the mech A/B legend on the campaign card.

• 3 monsters start on the map. Roll the monster die, place it on the first monster card, and follow Detect rules to place monsters, putting corresponding HP cubes on their cards.
  • For your first game, just put the monster meeples and HP cubes as shown in the rulebook's setup illustration.
• Deploy mech dice anywhere in the top 2 rows of the map (not on buildings or mountains), with values showing their mechs' HP.
• Put 4th monster meeple + cube, ruin tokens, and status tokens nearby.

Goal

Win by surviving 5 turns, with monsters trying to destroy buildings and mechs. You'll use your mechs' attacks to damage and reposition them to prevent that.

If both your mechs die or you run out of ruin cubes to place on destroyed buildings, you lose the whole campaign!

Units

Units (mechs and monsters) have 2 main stats: movement and HP (hit points). They also have 1 attack (mechs may gain a second attack via pilot upgrades) that they aim at targets to damage or otherwise affect things.

Units use movement to travel around the map, moving between orthogonal tiles (no diagonals).

• Units can't move through obstacles or enemy units, and must end movement on an empty tile (no building, mountain, or unit).
• Mechs on water tiles can't attack. Monsters on water tiles die (leaping or flying monsters have some exceptions).
• Flying units can move over anything, and ignore water. Leaping units can move over anything, but are affected by water once they stop moving. Flying units must still end movement on empty tiles.

Units die when their HP drops to 0 through damage. Mechs track HP with their die values. Monsters track it with an HP cube on their monster card.

Alpha monsters have their own stats, HP track, and attack in blue.

Some attacks push the target (which moves it away 1 tile), add status tokens to the target, or do other things.

• Whenever a unit is pushed toward a non-empty tile, nothing moves and instead both things take 1 bump damage (map edges don't cause damage).
• Resolve all pushing and bump damage before removing a unit with 0 HP; units can still cause bump damage as they die.

When a building takes damage, put a ruin cube from the supply on it (if you can't, you lose!). The tile is now considered empty. Building tiles are marked with a small + symbol (the turret and rocket are buildings).

Attack Examples

• Damage icon at range 1: hits an adjacent tile. Deals 1 damage.
• Damage icon at range 2: hits a tile exactly 2 spaces away in a straight line, skipping everything in between. Deals 1 damage.
• Damage icon at range 2+: same but can be aimed farther if desired. Must still end on a valid tile, not off the edge of the map.
• Damage icon at range 6 (line): travels up to 6 tiles in a line, stopping if it hits something. Deals 1 damage.

Turn Order

Each turn:

1. Time passes: The campaign die (showing turns remaining) decreases. If it reaches 0, you immediately win the current game.
2. Spawn: New monsters spawn in (where they were detected last turn).
3. Roll + advance: Roll the monster die and move it to the next card in the row (wrap around if needed). Place it on the white square.
4. Monsters move + aim: Each monster (in card order) moves and aims an attack (targeting a mech or building).
5. Detect: New monsters are detected (that will spawn next turn).
6. Player actions: The player can move and/or attack with each of their mechs, in any order or combination. Once a mech attacks, though, it can't do anything further.
7. Upkeep: Anything with the "Upkeep" keyword happens (like fire damage or map effects).
8. Monsters attack: Monster attacks resolve (even if their target has changed!).

Monsters Move + Aim

Monsters move and aim by choosing a column they want to be in, then picking a target that they can attack FROM that column.

• The monster's meeple is pointed in the direction it is attacking.
• If there are multiple valid targets to aim at from the column they chose, they use a targeting priority compass to pick one.
  • Always use the compass next to the monster die. It will change each turn.
• If there are multiple valid tiles in that column they could attack their chosen target from, they again use the compass to pick one.
• Monsters won't move into water, or stop on tiles where they interfere with (change the target of) other monsters' aimed attacks.
  • Flying monsters ignore water. Leaping monsters can cross it.

Monsters always start by choosing the column shown on the monster die (1-6, going from left to right).

• If the monster can't aim an attack from that column (because they can't move far enough, or there aren't any targets), they'll seek a column where they can aim an attack.
  • Always use the seek icon next to the monster die.
  • From the monster die column, try columns in the seek direction (wrapping around) until you find one the monster can move to, and from which they can attack something.

In the example, activation begins with card 2, where the monster die is. The orange Demon will move to column 4 (monster die value) and find a target. It has 2 movement and its attack hits adjacent tiles. It can move and attack building A, building B, or mech C from column 4. The current compass prioritizes East targets, which leaves A or C; it then prioritizes South, causing the Demon to move and aim at C.

The red Wraith monster will move to column 4 (monster die value), with 3 movement and a similar attack. It can attack building A, building B, or building C from column 5. Using the same compass, East targets are prioritized, so it moves and aims at A (flying monsters can move over any tiles, including water, mountains, buildings, and enemy units).

If a monster can't attack anything:

• It moves as far as it can towards the closest target it could attack if it had unlimited movement. Use the compass to decide between targets and tiles if needed. If there are no targets it could reach, even with unlimited movement, it does not move.
• Stand its meeple upright to indicate it is not attacking this turn.
• Note that some Alpha monsters' attacks damage multiple tiles, which may allow them to aim attacks from places they previously couldn't (see Campaign section).

Monsters Attack

During this step, surviving monsters resolve their aimed attacks, even if they have been moved or their target has changed.

Detect

During this step all monster HP cubes in the supply are placed on the map to show detected monsters. Spawn tiles have small red numbers on them.

• The monster die location shows which type of monster will be detected first, and its value shows which spawn tile to detect it on.
• Place the first cube on the spawn tile with the monster die value. Place the corresponding meeple on the monster card with the monster die.
  • If the spawn tile is occupied by a unit or already has an HP cube, increase by 1 as needed; values wrap around past 8.
• The next cube/meeple pair goes with the card to the left of the monster die, and so on. Wrap around if needed. Use the next higher spawn tile each time, again increasing by 1 as needed if a tile is occupied.
• No more than 2 monsters per card; move to next card if needed.
• HP cubes on the map are not units...yet!

In the example, 3 monster cube/meeple pairs are in the supply. Choosing any of the colors, the first pair will detect a Demon (the card with the monster die), since it doesn't yet have its max of 2 meeples associated with it. The red cube is placed on spawn tile 4 (monster die value) to show the detection, and the associated red meeple is placed on the Demon card. The next detection is a pink Wraith on spawn tile 6 (because the green mech is occupying spawn tile 5), then a purple Nightmare on spawn tile 7.

Spawn

During this step, swap each HP cube on the map (detections) with its corresponding meeple. Monsters spawn with full HP.

If the tile is blocked (because a unit is already there), nothing spawns, the cube/meeple go back to the supply, and the blocking unit takes 1 bump damage.

Moving your mechs to block monsters from spawning, or (better yet) pushing existing monsters so they block spawning, are good ways to keep the number of monsters under control.

Status Tokens

Status tokens are placed on the map or attached to units.

1. Rock: Is treated as a unit with 1 HP. Monsters will attack rocks if they can't find anything else. Mechs and monsters can't move through rocks (unless they're flying or leaping).
2. Smoke: Sits on a tile. Units on that tile cannot attack. Monsters will not try to aim attacks from smoke tiles.
3. Fire: Sits on map until a unit stops on its tile, then attaches to them. Deals 1 effect damage each turn to that unit during Upkeep.
4. Frozen: Attaches to a unit or building. Frozen targets cannot move or attack. If the target would take damage, prevent it and instead remove the token. Monsters will attack frozen targets (including monsters).
5. Shield: Attaches to a unit or building. If the target would take damage, prevent it and instead remove the token.
6. Acid: Sits on map until a unit stops on its tile, then attaches to them. That unit takes +1 damage from attacks (but not bump damage, fire, etc.).

The two sides of a status token overwrite each other if on the same tile; for example, adding fire to a frozen unit will remove frozen. If two existing, conflicting tokens come together due to movement (such as a shielded mech walking into acid), choose which token is removed. If you ever need to add a status token and none remain in the supply, free up a status token by removing one from play.

Mechs can skip attacking to remove any number of attached statuses.

Campaign

Playing a campaign introduces additional mechanics. After each game:

1. The campaign die moves to the next game along the track and resets to a value of 6.
2. Ruins on the map are lost (removed from the rest of the campaign).
3. If a mech died, its pilot loses all their upgrades (see below). The same 2 mechs and pilots are used throughout the entire campaign.
4. Rewards are earned for completed goals.
5. Monsters and map cards are redrawn for the next game.

The campaign card shows symbols on the left/right map cards for each game; find and tuck the corresponding objective cards to add goals and other effects to each game. Add yellow cards first (they are map-specific), then randomly add red cards (redraw any duplicates, so that both goals are unique).

Completing a goal during a game grants the corresponding reward (or rewards) listed on the campaign card:

• A: Upgrade for mech A or its pilot; slide the mech or pilot card to reveal the next upgrade row. Upgrades improve or add attacks, or improve the mech's stats.
• B: Upgrade for mech B or its pilot.
• R: Return 1 lost ruin token to the supply (max 3).

Some games increase the number of starting and/or Alpha monsters. When spawning monsters, Alpha versions spawn until you reach the number of Alphas listed. Alpha monsters use the blue stats, attack, and HP track on their monster card to distinguish them from non-Alphas.

Adjusting Difficulty

You can make the campaign more difficult by:

• Reducing the max number of ruin cubes available.
• Skipping step 1 (Time passes) your first turn of each game (increases game length by 1 turn).
• Activating the moon icons on BOTH map cards during the finale.

FAQ

Map

• Map cards should face the same direction so all text is readable.
• Units cannot move or be pushed off the edges of the map, and the edges don't cause bump damage.
• The southern (bottom) row of tiles is only partially shown, but otherwise normal.
• Units must aim at tiles that are part of the map; they cannot aim off the edges.
• Line projectiles (the range 6 line attacks) stop on the last map tile before the edge if they haven't hit anything else.
• If a unit on a forest is damaged, a fire status token is created and immediately attaches to it. If the damage kills the unit, the fire is then gone.
• If an attack deals damage and adds a status of its own, that status may overwrite the forest/sand status token created by the damage.
• An empty tile means a tile that a unit could end movement on. If a tile has a unit, building, or mountain on it, it is not empty. Water tiles are empty. Ruined buildings are empty.

Buildings

• Buildings are a valid target that monsters will try to attack. They are indicated by small + symbols. The turret, rocket, etc. are buildings.
• Buildings can be damaged by mech attacks, and by bump damage. Buildings themselves can't be pushed or moved.
• If a status other than shield or frozen would be created on a building, don't place a status token.
• Buildings can't be moved on or through (flying and leaping units can move over them).
• Buildings with ruin cubes are treated as empty tiles.

Water

• Water prevents non-flying mechs from attacking and instantly kills non-flying monsters.
• Monsters treat water as an obstacle (unless they can fly or leap).
• Flying units (mechs or monsters) completely ignore water, and may move through, stand on, and attack from water tiles.
• Mechs may start the game on water tiles.

Status tokens

• Units can walk past fire and acid tokens without them attaching; a unit must stand on the tile for the status to attach.

Monster attacks

• Once a monster aims an attack, it performs it during the Monsters attack step no matter what. Even if it kills itself or hits other monsters.
• Two monsters (Demon and Intruder) have attacks that prevent targets from moving. They only prevent the regular movement action (moving with the foot icon); units on the target tile can still be pushed or use attacks that cause them to move.
• The Alpha Herald monster will aim at mountains or map edges (but not other monsters) if the splash damage will hit its desired target.
• Monsters avoid blocking other monsters' attacks (they won't get in the way and change the target), but they otherwise don't care about collateral damage (dealing it, walking into it, or bump damage).
• Monsters will not try to aim attacks from tiles with smoke.
• Monsters do not consider their own HP when aiming. Sometimes they aim attacks from tiles where they won't survive to resolve them, due to fire damage, map effects, etc.

Attack directions

• If an attack mentions directions like left/right/behind, treat them relative to the direction the attack is aimed. If you fire the Grav Beam toward the East, the tiles left/right of its target will be North and South, respectively.
• Wukong's Throw attack must push in 1 of the 4 orthogonal directions.
• The Meteor attack pulls a target; this works exactly like a push, just in the opposite direction.

Detect and Spawn

• There can be up to 4 monsters on the map at a time, regardless of how many starting monsters there were.
• If all 4 monsters are being detected in the same turn, detect in this order: monster card 1 (or wherever the die is), 2, 3, then 1 again.
• After spawning monsters as part of setup, nothing else will spawn on the first turn, since there has not been a Detect step yet.
• During the detect step, the number of Alpha monsters does not matter. During the spawn step, each detection will become either a normal or Alpha monster, based on the number of Alphas currently on the map. Each detection will be an Alpha until the limit (shown on the campaign card for the current game) has been reached.

Finale effects

• Exploding monsters: Whenever a monster dies, regardless of how, it damages the 4 adjacent tiles. Finish resolving any pushing first.
• Water: Monsters treat water tiles as empty ground tiles.
• Deadly columns: During the Upkeep step, all mechs in the column matching the current monster die value are killed.
• Detect: The Detect step (step 5) now happens immediately before the Spawn step (step 3). That means there will almost always be 4 monsters on the map after the Spawn step.
• Mountain buildings: Treat all mountains as if they were buildings.
• Unlimited movement: Monsters will almost always be able to attack.

Map effects on yellow objective cards

• Storm: The "Turn X" tiles on this map card will kill units there during the Upkeep step of the corresponding turns (so when the matching value is shown on the campaign die). This does not count as damage, so frozen/shield tokens don't stop it.
• Flooding: During all of turn 3 (when 3 is showing on the campaign die), the "Turn 3" tile is treated as a water tile. Same for the "Turn 2" tile during turn 2.
• Frozen mountain: The mountain on this card is treated like a building during this game, and starts with a frozen token on it. The mountain must survive and be unfrozen to achieve the goal.
• Turret: The turret can attack once during step 7 (Player actions). A frozen turret can't attack.
• Acid: Units that stand still on these tiles are inflicted with acid tokens. Moving past them without stopping does not inflict acid.

Player actions

• The player actions can be in any order, such as: move mech A, move mech B, attack with mech B, attack with mech A.
• All player actions are optional.
• Once a mech attacks, it cannot do anything else that turn.
• Mechs that have unlocked a second attack through pilot upgrades can still only use 1 attack each turn.
• Mechs can skip their attack to remove any status tokens attached to them, including frozen. This still ends the mech's actions for the turn, like an attack would. They can do this even standing in water.

Multiple monsters from the same monster card

• Each monster card can have up to 2 meeples associated with it (any combination of normal and/or Alpha monsters of that type).
• Normal monsters use the left HP track; Alpha monsters use the right.
• If a track has an HP cube on it, and a second monster spawns that will also use that track, place the second HP cube slightly offset towards the center of the monster card (effectively the cube is on 1 of 2 invisible "inner" tracks).
• When activating monsters during step 4 (Monster move + aim), cards activate from left to right, and each card activates meeples based on the left to right order of their HP cubes on the card.
• If a track has 2 HP cubes on it and one of those monsters dies, the remaining HP cube should use the printed HP track.

Another example (Step 4, Monsters move + aim) for reference. The pink Nightmare activates first based on the monster die location, and its compass and seek arrow are active. After it moves and aims, the two Alpha Demons activate, with purple (4 HP) activating before orange (3 HP). The green mech is immobilized by the purple Demon! Finally the red Alpha Wraith activates.