City of Remnants
City of Remnants Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 Rulebook
- 1 Game Board
- 4 Player Mats
- 53 Development Tiles
- 18 Development Draft Cards
- 40 Gang Leader Starter Cards
- 31 Gang Member Unit Cards
- 30 Black Market Cards
- 20 YCU Coordinate Cards
- 1 YCU Alert Reference Card
- 1 Cloth YCU Token Bag
- 20 YCU Tokens
- 37 Renown Tokens
- 54 Product Tokens
- 91 ARC Tokens
- 4 Turn Tracker Tokens
- 4 Influence Tracker Tokens
- 64 Plastic Figures
- 10 Battle Dice
- 1 Six-Sided Die
- 1 First Player Token
Game Credits
Game Designer: Isaac Vega. Producer: Colby Dauch. Writer and Editor: Mr. Bistro. Illustrator: John Ariosa. Sculptor: Chad Hoverter. Graphic Designer: Peter Wocken. Editors: Nate Rethorn, Pete Miller, David Moody. Playtesters: Lucas Magrum, Travis Magrum, Josh Rios, Jacob Ollervides, Jim Schoch, Chris McCleese, Jonathan Gilmour, Sam Vega, Alex Eding, Bryan Robles.
Game Board
One side of the game board is divided into a 7x7 square grid. Use this side for the 2- or 4-player game. The other side of the board is used for the 3-player game.
The board is further divided into three color-coded levels. The outer spaces, marked in red, are Slum level spaces. The middle ring of spaces, marked in blue, are Midtown level spaces. The inner spaces, marked in green, are Heights level spaces.
Player Mats
Give each player a player mat. Players use these mats to track several important elements of the game.
Anatomy of a Player Mat
- 1 - Turn Track: This tracks how many turns a player has taken during the round.
- 2 - Actions: This is a list of the actions available on a player's turn. Players take 1 action per turn.
- 3 - Gain Influence Conditions: This is a list of game conditions. Each time a player meets 1 of these conditions, he may advance his influence marker 1 space on his influence track.
- 4 - Influence Track: This tracks how much influence a player has. A player's influence affects a number of things in the game.
- 5 - Gang Member Pool: This is where a player places his figures: at the beginning of the game, and each time he gains a unit. Figures can be moved from the gang member pool to a player's entry space on the board.
Actions (as printed on the player mat)
- Recruit — Bid on new gang members.
- Move — Move a number of figures equal to your influence, up to 3 spaces each.
- Production >>> Develop — Place product tokens on all developments you are able to, then you may buy 1 development.
- Buy — Buy 1 card from the currently available black market cards. You may also buy renown at a cost of 3 ARCs per renown.
- Sell — Sell a number of product tokens equal to your influence.
- Refresh — Discard as many cards from hand as you like, shuffle your discard pile and place it face-down under your draw pile. Draw enough cards so your hand has a number of cards equal to your influence.
Round Phases (as printed on the player mat)
- Reset [gain 2,000 ARCs]
- Player Turns [4 per round]
- Yugai Patrol
- Award Renown
How to Gain Influence (as printed on the player mat)
Anytime you achieve one of the following conditions you may move your Influence Tracker up by one. You may only achieve each condition once.
- Control 5+ developments
- Control 2+ Heights developments [green]
- Pay 12,000+ ARCs
- Control 10+ figures on the board
- Achieve attack total of 18+ during a battle
The gang member pool starts the game with seven gang members.
Unit Cards
Each player starts the game with several unit cards in his deck. Players have the opportunity to gain more unit cards throughout the game.
Anatomy of a Unit Card
- 1 - Name: The name of the unit.
- 2 - Type: There are 2 types of unit cards: gang leaders and gang members.
- 3 - Yellow Attack Value: This is the attack value this gang member adds to a battle when it is played by a player with a yellow gang leader.
- 4 - Red Attack Value: This is the attack value this gang member adds to a battle when it is played by a player with a red gang leader.
- 5 - Blue Attack Value: This is the attack value this gang member adds to a battle when it is played by a player with a blue gang leader.
- 6 - Green Attack Value: This is the attack value this gang member adds to a battle when it is played by a player with a green gang leader.
- 7 - Special Ability: Each unit has a special rule that applies to itself. A player may play a card during his turn to trigger its special ability text. A special ability that has the word 'Battle' in its text triggers when that card is revealed in a battle.
- 8 - Number of Cards: This shows how many copies of each card there are in the game.
Developments
Throughout the game players will be able to place development tiles on the game board. Placing a development tile does not give you control over that development. To control a development tile, you must have at least 1 figure on each space of the board that the development tile occupies. Each development tile also has a matching development card.
Anatomy of a Development Tile
- 1 - Name: The name of the card.
- 2 - Renown: This shows the number of renown a player earns at the end of each round that he controls the development.
- 3 - Development Icon: This symbol matches the development draft card for this tile. The symbol helps players quickly find the draft card so that they can reference the development's special ability.
- 4 - Cost: This is the number of ARCs (Alien Refugee Credits) a player must pay to place this development on the board.
- 5 - Level Restriction: These colors show which areas of the board this development can be placed on. A red level restriction means the development can be placed on red spaces. A red and blue level restriction means it can be placed on red and/or blue spaces, etc.
- 6 - Control Space: This reminds players that a development tile needs to be controlled before it can be used.
Anatomy of a Development Card
- 1 - Name: The name of the card.
- 2 - Development Icon: This symbol matches the development tile for this draft card. The symbol helps players quickly find the tile that goes with this card.
- 3 - Special Ability: This is the benefit gained from controlling the development.
- 4 - Tile: This shows the front of the corresponding development tile for quick reference.
- 5 - Renown: This shows the number of renown a player will earn at the end of each round that he controls the development.
- 6 - Level Restriction: These colors show which areas of the board this development can be placed on. A red level restriction means the development can be placed on red spaces. A red and blue level restriction means it can be placed on red and/or blue spaces, etc.
- 7 - Number of Developments: This shows how many copies of each development there are.
- 8 - Cost: This is the number of ARCs a player must pay to place a copy of this development's tile on the board.
Renown
The game board also has a number of spaces that are marked with renown awards. At the end of each round, a player gains the renown awarded by each space that he controls. Occasionally there will be a development with a renown award that has been built on top of a space containing its own renown award. In that case, whoever controls that space gains the renown for both the development and the space.
The player to the right of the player receiving renown tokens counts them out and hands them over. Once a player has taken the renown tokens he may choose to flip them face down to conceal their value.
Black Market Cards
Throughout the game, players will be able to buy black market cards to add to their deck. Each of these cards does unique things for that player.
Anatomy of a Black Market Card
- 1 - Name: The name of the card.
- 2 - Type: There are 2 types of black market cards: permanent and regular.
- 3 - Special Ability: This is a unique rule that players can use. A card with the word 'Permanent' in its text is placed in front of a player when it is bought and its effects remain in play for the remainder of the game.
- 4 - Number of Cards: This shows how many copies of each card there are.
- 5 - Reward: Each black market card is worth 1 renown at the end of the game.
- 6 - Cost: This is the number of ARCs a player must pay to buy this card.
YCU Coordinates Cards
During the Yugai Patrol Phase of each round a YCU (Yugai Control Unit) coordinates card is revealed. This determines where YCU tokens are placed on the board.
Anatomy of a YCU Coordinates Card
- 1 - Placement Grid: This is a quick visual reference to where YCU tokens will be placed on the board.
- 2 - 2/4 Player Game: This is a list of coordinates that YCU tokens will be placed at if 2 or 4 people are playing.
- 3 - 3 Player Game: This is a list of coordinates that YCU tokens will be placed at if 3 people are playing.
YCU Tokens
YCU tokens represent Yugai Control Units patrolling the city. When a YCU token lands on the same space as a player's gang members, a combat will begin. Likewise, when a player moves onto a space that already contains a YCU token, a combat will begin.
Anatomy of a YCU Token
- 1 - Attack Value: This determines how difficult a YCU token is to defeat in combat. The higher the attack value is, the higher a player's total attack value will need to be to defeat it. When there is more than 1 YCU token in a space, add all of the tokens' attack values together.
- 2 - Bribe Value: This is the number of ARCs a player may spend to discard the YCU token and return it to the bag without battling it.
Figures
The game comes with plastic figures in 4 different colors. Each player chooses 1 color. These figures represent gang members on the board. The figures also depict 4 different races. A figure's race has no effect on gameplay. Only the figure's color matters.
Although a figure is placed in a player's gang member pool whenever a new unit card is added to his deck, this only represents the growth of his gang, the figure does not in any way represent that specific unit card.
Game Setup
To set up a game of City of Remnants, follow these steps:
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Place the game board in the center of the play area.
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Separate the 4 sets of gang leader starter cards. There are 10 of each type, marked with the name of the gang leader they belong to.
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Have each player do the following:
- Choose a gang leader by selecting its deck of 10 starter cards. Shuffle the starter cards to form a draw pile, and draw 4 cards from the top of the pile. (Players may either randomly choose gang leaders or roll the 6-sided die to determine which player picks first. Continue clockwise around the table.)
- Collect the player mat that matches your gang leader's color and place it in front of you. Place a turn tracker token on the 0 space of your turn track and an influence tracker token on the 4 space of your influence track.
- Collect the figures that match your gang leader's color and place 7 of them in the gang member pool on your player mat.
- Each player chooses a different side of the board. The space in the center of their side of the board with white crosshairs is their gang's entry space for the game.
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Shuffle the rest of the gang member cards (the unit cards that are not gang leader starter cards) and create a face-down gang member deck. Turn the first 4 cards from that deck face-up.
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Shuffle the black market cards and create a face-down black market deck. Turn the first 4 cards from this deck face-up.
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Separate the 18 development draft cards into their 3 different types (red Slum level developments, blue Midtown level developments, and green Heights level developments). Randomly select 3 cards of each type, reveal them, and lay out all of the development tiles that match those 9 cards. (Note that there are multiple copies of some developments. When a development is chosen, put out all of the available copies of that development tile). These developments are the developments that can be built during this game.
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Create a pile of ARC tokens within reach of all players. Give each player 2,000 ARCs to start the game.
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Create a pile of product tokens within reach of all players.
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Create a pile of exactly 200 renown tokens within reach of all players.
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Shuffle the YCU coordinate cards and create a facedown YCU coordinate deck. Place the YCU alert reference card next to the YCU coordinate deck for easy reference.
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Place all of the YCU tokens in the provided cloth bag and shuffle them.
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Everyone rolls the 6-sided die. The player with the highest roll receives the first player token and the game begins. In case of a tie, have all players with the highest roll reroll.
Note: Each side of the board has an outer space with a white crosshair on it. These spaces are the player's entry spaces. Each player will claim a different player entry space at the start of the game.
Game Round
A game of City of Remnants takes place over several rounds. Each round is divided into 4 phases that must be completed in order.
Round Phases:
- Reset
- Player Turns
- Yugai Patrol
- Award Renown
Reset Phase
During the reset phase, all players may discard as many cards from their hand as they like into their discard pile. Players then shuffle their discard pile and place it face-down under their draw pile. Finally, players draw enough cards from their draw pile so that they have a number of cards in their hand equal to their influence. (Players can refer to their influence track on their player mat to see what their current influence is. All players start with 4 influence).
The player with the first player token passes the token to the player on his left.
Each player receives 2,000 ARCs.
Discard all remaining face-up black market cards and draw 4 more, placing them face-up.
Discard all remaining face-up gang member cards and draw 4 more, placing them face-up.
(Skip the Reset Phase on the first turn of the game).
Player Turns Phase
Starting with the first player and moving clockwise around the table, each player will take a turn. Play continues around the table until each player has taken 4 turns. If it is a player's turn and his turn track is already on turn 4 (because he recruited gang members outside of his turn) skip that player and move to the next player that still has turns remaining.
During a player's turn, he must select 1 action to perform on that turn. (Each player has a list of possible actions printed on his player mat for easy reference).
Players can also play cards from their hand during their turn. A player may play a card any time during his turn.
After a player has finished taking his turn, he advances his turn tracker token 1 space on his turn track. Once all players' turn trackers are on the 4 space of the turn track, the player turns phase is over.
Playing Cards
A player may play 1 or more cards from his hand during his turn to trigger their special abilities. After playing a card, discard it. Cards with the word 'Battle' in their special ability only trigger when played into a battle. Special abilities that do not have the word 'Battle' in their text do NOT trigger when revealed in battle.
Yugai Patrol Phase
At the start of the Yugai patrol phase, if there are any YCU (Yugai Control Unit) tokens on the board, return them to the cloth bag and shuffle them. The first player then draws and reveals 2 YCU coordinate cards. Next, he randomly draws YCU tokens from the cloth bag 1 at a time, placing 1 YCU token on each of the coordinates listed on the revealed YCU coordinate cards.
After all the YCU tokens are placed, if one or more of those tokens was placed on a space or spaces occupied by a player's figures, that player must immediately battle those YCU. (See the Battling Yugai Control Units section). A player may battle YCU in any order he chooses. If more than one player has to battle YCU, the player that is currently highest on the turn order (starting with the first player and moving clockwise around the table) will conduct all of his YCU battles first before moving to the next player. All YCU battles must be resolved before moving on to the next phase. Any YCU tokens that aren't defeated during this phase remain on the board:
- Until they are defeated, or
- Until the beginning of the next Yugai Patrol Phase.
Award Renown Phase
During this phase, players collect renown tokens for the spaces and developments they control that offer renown awards. The game starts with 200 renown worth of renown tokens in a pile.
If a player would ever gain renown during the award renown phase and there are not enough renown tokens left to claim, that player counts up the renown he would have received and adds it to his current total. That is his total renown score for the game. The game is over at the end of a round in which there are not enough tokens for players to claim in the renown phase.
Actions
There are 6 different actions available to players.
- Recruit
- Buy
- Produce >>> Develop
- Sell
- Refresh
- Move
Recruit Action
To perform a recruit action, a player selects one of the face-up gang member cards (located next to the gang member deck) and declares his intent to recruit that gang member. Starting with the player to his left and moving clockwise around the table, each other player who still has at least 1 turn left in this round may bid on that gang member. The first player to bid announces the number of ARCs that he is willing to pay for that gang member. The next player may then choose to raise that bid by any amount or pass. A player who passes drops out of the bidding. Continue moving around the table until all but one of the players have passed.
The remaining player pays his bid and recruits the gang member. If a player recruits a gang member outside of his turn, that player advances his turn tracker 1 space on his turn track. If no player bids against the player that declared his intent to recruit, that player recruits the gang member for free. If the player who declared his intent to recruit is outbid, it is still that player's turn. That player selects a different gang member to attempt to recruit. He continues to do this until he has successfully recruited a gang member.
Once a gang member has been recruited, the player adds its unit card to his hand and places 1 figure in his gang member pool.
If there are no gang member cards face-up when a player announces a recruit action, that player must reveal the top card of the gang member deck and attempt to recruit that card.
Buy Action
To perform a buy action, a player chooses 1 black market card from among the 4 face-up black market cards next to the black market deck. He pays that card's ARC cost and adds it to his hand. If there are no face-up black market cards, a player cannot buy a black market card.
Additionally, during a buy action, a player may buy renown tokens at a cost of 3,000 ARCs each. A player may buy a number of renown up to his influence value during each buy action that he performs.
Produce >>> Develop Action
Some developments have a special ability that takes place when a player performs a produce >>> develop action. When a player performs a produce >>> develop action, he can carry out the effects of each development he controls that has this type of special ability.
That player may then build a new development by paying the ARC cost listed on that development and placing it on the board. He cannot place a development on one or more spaces that already contain a development. He must place a development on spaces that match that development's level restriction. (See Anatomy of a Development Tile.) He can place a development on a space that contains figures; simply move those figures on top of that development.
Sell Action
When performing a sell action, a player may sell (discard) product tokens that are on developments he controls to gain ARCs. During a sell action, a player may only sell a number of products equal to his influence. The development tiles that have products on them detail how many ARCs are gained from selling those products.
Refresh Action
A refresh action allows a player to refresh his cards, just as he does during the reset phase of every round. To perform a refresh action, a player may discard as many cards from his hand as he likes into his discard pile. He then shuffles his discard pile and place it face-down under his draw pile. Finally, he draws enough cards from his draw pile so that he has a number of cards in his hand equal to his influence.
Move Action
During a move action, a player may move a number of his figures equal to his influence. Each figure may move up to 3 spaces. (Example: If your influence is 4, you may move up to 4 figures up to 3 spaces each). Players must complete a figure's movement before moving the next figure. A figure cannot end its move on a space that already contains 2 figures that player controls. A figure cannot move diagonally.
Moving Figures onto the Gameboard
When choosing which figures to move during a move action, a player may move a figure:
- from a space on the board to another (legal) space, or
- from his gang member pool to the game board.
To move from the gang member pool to the game board, a player removes a figure from his gang member pool and places it on his entry space (the space along his side of the game board that has white crosshairs on it). This counts as having moved that figure 1 of the 3 spaces it is allowed to move during that move action.
Moving into Spaces with Enemies
During a move action, if a player moves a figure into a space that contains 1 or more enemy figures (all other players' figures are considered enemies. YCU tokens are also considered enemies) that figure's movement stops. He can never move his figures into more than 1 space containing enemies during a single turn. At the end of a move action, a battle will take place in any space that is contested (has more than 1 player's figures on it).
Battling Another Player
Battling another player is an important part of the game. It allows a player to not only weaken his opponents' forces and board position, but it also allows him to take over developments that they currently control and gain control of them himself.
When 2 players battle over a contested space, the player whose turn it is will be considered the attacker. The attacker will start the battle by laying all of the cards he wants to play into that battle face down in front of him. He may choose to lay down a number of cards up to his current influence. The cards he lays can come from either his hand, the top of his draw pile, or a combination of both. (A player cannot look at cards he is sending to battle that come off of his draw pile).
The other player involved in the battle is considered the defender. After the attacker has laid down his cards, the defender will lay down the cards he wants to send to battle. He does this in the same way, and is also limited to a number of cards equal to his influence.
Once both players have laid their cards down for battle, the attacker reveals his cards and triggers any 'Battle' special abilities. Then the defender reveals his cards and does the same. Next, both players roll a number of battle dice equal to the number of figures that they have in the contested space and each space adjacent to the contested space. (Spaces diagonally connected to other spaces are not considered adjacent).
Players add the result of their rolls to the total attack value of their cards to come up with their total attack value for the battle. (Remember that the attack value of a unit card is dependent on the player's color). Whoever has the higher attack value is the winner of that battle. If 2 players in a battle have an equal attack value total, the defender wins the battle. The player who lost that battle must remove 1 of his figures on the contested space from the board (placing it back into his pile of unused figures) and 1 of the unit cards he played in that battle from the game (placing it back in the game box). If the losing player played no cards in that battle, he must choose and remove 1 gang member card from his discard pile. If a player has no discard pile, he must choose and remove 1 gang member card in his hand or he may search his draw pile for a gang member card to remove from the game. (If a player searches his draw pile he must shuffle his draw pile afterwards.)
Note: when a player removes a card from the game, the card being removed must be revealed to all players.
After a battle, if the space is still contested, another battle immediately takes place in that same space until only 1 player's units remain.
Battling Yugai Control Units
When battling a YCU, first determine its attack value. The attack value of a YCU is listed on its token. However, a YCU token is boosted by other YCU tokens in the same space. Add the attack values of all the YCU tokens in the contested space. The result becomes the attack value of the YCU.
If a player has more than 1 YCU to battle, he battles them 1 at a time in an order of his choosing.
Once he has determined the attack value of the YCU token that he is battling, he may lay down the cards that he wants to send into battle against that token (from his hand and/or from his draw pile, following the same rules as he does when battling another player) and then reveals them.
Next, he rolls a number of battle dice equal to the number of figures that he has in the contested space and each space adjacent to that space.
Add the results of his roll to the attack value on his cards. If the total is equal to or higher than the attack value of the YCU token, he has defeated that YCU. Return the defeated YCU token to the cloth YCU token bag and roll the six-sided die. Refer to the YCU alert card and carry out the effect shown by the number rolled. Sometimes this can result in more YCU units being placed on the board. If this is the case, resolve the battles created by those new units the same as during the Yugai Patrol phase. See Yugai Patrol Phase for details.
If his attack value is lower than that of the YCU token, it has defeated him. He must remove 1 of his figures on the contested space from the board (placing it back into his pile of unused figures) and one of the unit cards he played in that battle from the game (placing it back in the game box). If he played no cards in that battle, he must choose and remove 1 gang member card from his discard pile. If he has no discard pile, he must choose and remove 1 gang member card in his hand or draw pile from the game.
Just as with battling any other enemy figure, if after the battle is resolved there are still contested spaces on the board, additional battles continue until there are no contested spaces left.
Instead of battling a YCU, a player may bribe it. To bribe a YCU, pay a number of ARCs equal to that YCU's bribe value and place that YCU token back in the cloth bag. When bribing a YCU, do not roll a die afterward.
Gaining Influence
Throughout the game there are certain tasks a player can complete to gain influence. As soon as he meets one of these conditions, he must announce that he has met the condition and advance his influence marker 1 space on its track. (His influence track is located on his player mat.) He can never lose influence once it is gained, even if he ceases to meet the conditions whereby he gained it. He can never meet the same condition twice. A description of the each way to increase his influence is listed on each player's mat.
Player Decks
In City of Remnants players form their own decks. Cards that are in the draw pile, discard pile and hand are all considered part of a player's deck.
Victory
The last phase of each round is the award renown phase (see Award Renown Phase). If there were not enough renown tokens for all players to claim the renown they earned for the round, those players add the renown they would have claimed to their current total of tokens. The result is their final score. The player with the highest renown total wins the game. (Remember that each black market card that a player has at the end of the game is 1 renown for that player). If two or more players are tied for highest renown total, the tied player with the most ARCs wins.
Battle Example
Jake is playing as the gang leader Garius Regallas (red) and Sam is playing as the gang leader Sempento Roden (blue). Jake has just moved his figures into the same space as Sam's figure. A battle will occur with Jake as the attacker and Sam as the defender.
1 - Select Cards
Choose which unit cards you will send into the battle. You may choose a number of cards up to your current influence value. These may come from your hand or may be blindly placed into the battle from the top of your draw pile. Play these cards face down.
Jake has an influence of 4. He is the attacker so he plays his cards first. He plays 2 cards from his hand and then, without looking at them, also plays 2 cards from the top of his deck. Sam also has an influence of 4. He plays 4 cards from his hand.
2 - Reveal Cards
Reveal your face down cards and trigger any Battle effects on those cards.
Both Jake and Sam have revealed their cards. Jake has 2 battle effects on his revealed cards: Brute Strength and Eager. Jake does not meet the conditions of Brute Strength, but if he wins this battle his Scrapper's Eager ability will allow him to return that Scrapper to his hand. Sam has 1 battle effect on his revealed cards. He discards 1 renown to trigger his Unpopular battle effect, adding 2 to his Enforcer's attack value.
3 - Total Card Points
Add the attack values listed on your gang's color tabs.
One of the cards Jake played from the top of his deck ended up not being a unit card, so it has no attack value, but the rest of his cards have a total attack value of 14. Sam's cards add up to 16 (thanks to the enforcer having an attack value of 4 because of his Unpopular battle effect).
4 - Roll Battle Dice
Count every figure you control on the contested space and each adjacent space. Roll 1 battle die for each figure.
Jake controls 2 figures on the contested space and 1 figure in a space adjacent to the contested space. So Jake rolls 3 battle dice, scoring 4 hits on them. Sam has 1 figure in the contested space and 3 figures in adjacent spaces. He rolls 4 dice, scoring 5 hits.
5 - Add Everything
Add the total number from your cards to the result of your dice roll.
Jake adds his 14 attack value from his cards to his 4 attack value from his dice for a total of 18. Sam adds his 16 attack value from his cards to his 5 attack value from his dice for a total of 21.
6 - Winner
The player with the highest number wins. In the case of a tie, the defender wins.
Sam's total attack value is higher than Jake's, so he wins the battle.
7 - Loser
The loser must remove 1 figure from the contested space AND 1 Unit card that was played in that battle. Remove the card from the game.
Jake lost the battle, so he removes 1 of his figures from the space putting it back into his pile of unused figures (not into his gang member pool) and he removes his scrapper card from the game placing it in the game box.
8 - Repeat
If the space is still contested, repeat the process.
Since Jake moved 2 figures into the space he still has 1 remaining. Another battle immediately takes place in that same space.