Death Roads: All Stars Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • Coop/Solo Mode
• First Game
  • Premade Sets
  • Starting Positions
  • Prepare Players
• Setup
  • Prepare Main Board
  • Prepare Players
• Win Conditions
  • Elimination
  • First to the Finish Line
• Game Flow
  • Round Order
  • Initiative Phase
  • Preparation Phase
    • Gain Handling
    • Drawing Action Cards
  • Reveal Event Phase
  • Race Phase
  • Race Phase Order
  • Player Turn
    • Apply Status Tokens
    • Skid, Pass, Focus or Play Actions
  • Skid
  • Pass
  • Focus
  • Play Actions
  • Vehicle Cards
  • Weapon Cards
  • Examples
  • Driver Actions
    • Driver Passive Skill
  • Condition
  • Handling
  • Gears
  • Movement
    • Bash
    • Far Ahead
    • Far Behind
    • Barriers
  • Dirt Lane Setback
  • Resolving Damage Chart
• Resolve Event Phase
• You are ready!
  • Moving Example
  • Turn Example
  • Adjacent Vehicle
• Motorbikes Rules
  • Setup
  • Initiative Phase
  • Race Phase
  • Skid and Pass
  • Bike Elimination
  • Bikes Order
• Signature Weapons
  • Setup
  • Obtaining and using Signature Weapon
• Coop/Solo Mode
  • Setup
  • Prepare AI
  • Boss
  • Drones
  • Difficulty Adjustment
  • Win Conditions
• AI
  • Game Flow
  • AI Character Types
  • Traits
  • AI Driver Actions
  • AI Action Cards
  • AI Turn
  • AI Priorities
  • Closest Player's Vehicle
  • Pushing Player's Vehicle
  • AI Special Rules
    • Gears
    • Shooting Weapons
    • Status Effects
  • Other Rules
• Reference Card Icon Legend
• Credits

Components

• 10 Driver boards
• 8 Vehicle boards
• Main board & 2 Lane Overlays
• 4 Lane cards
• 8 Skid cards
• 60 Weapon cards, 53 Vehicle cards, 8 Signature Weapon cards
• 9 Vehicle miniatures
• 9 Initiative tokens
• 10 Gear, 13 Condition, 12 Handling tokens & 30 Armor tokens
• 26 Road Event cards
• 6 Final Stretch cards
• 5 Reference cards
• 30 Status tokens
• 4 Road Event tokens
• 3 Barrier tokens with supports

Coop/Solo Mode

• 6 AI Character types
• 7 AI Action cards
• 4 Drone boards
• 4 Drone tokens & 4 Drone Initiative tokens

First Game

So you are new here, huh? Come with me Rookie, I know a shortcut!

For your first game, simply use these presets, ignoring Prepare Players section on page 7.

Come back to the full setup after your first game, when you are familiar with the basic concepts of Death Roads.

During your first games, we suggest, you use these premade sets. Experiment with your own configurations and add more content to the game by using the standard rules when you feel confident with the basic mechanisms!

Premade Sets

Prepare one of the five premade Driver/Vehicle sets shown, each pairing a Driver card with two matching Weapon-Deck cards and a Vehicle.

Starting Positions

Follow the standard instructions to set up the game, but use this Prepare Players section instead of the standard one.

Prepare Players

1. Prepare one of the premade sets for each of the Players.
2. Each Player takes one of the prepared sets. You may choose randomly or by name or a car engine sound - it's up to you! Don't worry about the skills or values, at least for now.
3. Take the Vehicle board, Deck, miniature and Initiative token matching your Vehicle.
4. Put your Vehicle miniature on the Main Board position marked by Starting Positions. If you are using the Blue car with fewer than 4 Players (so your starting position is covered with the Lane Overlay) - use the position of the first unused car instead.
5. Put your Initiative tokens on the Initiative track in the order shown by the Starting Positions.
6. Take a Condition token and put it on the maximum value of the Condition track on your Vehicle board.
7. Each Player takes and places Armor tokens on their Vehicle Board to the right of the Condition track, on the skull symbol. From top to bottom - green, yellow, red.
8. Take a Handling token and put it on the maximum value of the Handling track on your Vehicle board.
9. Take a Gear token and put it on the Gear marked "2" of the Gear track on your Vehicle board.
10. Shuffle all your action cards in order to form a personal Action Deck. This includes cards assigned to your Vehicle (between 5 and 8) and 6 Weapon cards shown by the Premade Sets. Put that Deck near your Vehicle board face down.
11. Draw 5 cards to form your hand. Never show cards in your hand to other Players.
12. You can now start the race - good luck!

Setup

Prepare Main Board

1. Put the Main Board in the middle of the table.
2. Put all Vehicle boards on a stack and next to it, all Vehicle cards sorted into Vehicle Decks sorted by vehicle logo in the bottom right corner of its art.
3. Put Driver boards in the number equal to the number of Players + 2 on a stack. Put the rest back to the box.
4. Separate Weapon cards according to their type symbol and put them on 3 separate stacks (F#, M#, B#).
5. Shuffle all Skid cards together to create the Skid Deck.
6. Place Status tokens near the board.
7. Place 2 Lane Overlays near the board. Use the side matching the board side.
8. Shuffle the Road Event cards and place 5* of them face-down to form the Events row near the board. Put the rest of the Road Event cards back to the box.
9. Place one random Final Stretch card above the 3rd* Event card in the Events row. Put the rest of the Final Stretch cards back to the box.
10. 2-3 Player game: Put the Right Lane Overlay on the board reducing the number of lanes by 1.
11. Put the Lane cards with numbers exceeding the number of Asphalt Lanes back to the box. Shuffle the rest to create the Lane Deck and place it near the board.

Road Events and Final Stretch — 5-Player game: use only 4 Road Event Cards and place the Final Stretch card above the 2nd one.

Prepare Players

1. Determine the first Player to choose their set. The person who ran out of fuel most recently should go first.
2. Starting from that Player, in clockwise order, choose one of the available Vehicles taking the corresponding Vehicle Board, Vehicle Deck and miniature plus an Armor tokens set. Place your Initiative Token on the first available spot on the Initiative Track (red frame in the picture).
3. Next, starting from the last one to choose, in counterclockwise order, choose a Driver from the available pool taking the corresponding Driver board.
4. Starting again from the first Player and going in clockwise order, choose one of the available Weapon Decks (Front, Middle, Back) - in a 4/5-Player game, the last Players initially have no Deck, in a 2-Player game, the first Player initially has 2 Decks. Pick a 2-card weapon set (Sets are marked with the same Letter-Number designation e.g. B02) from the Deck and give the rest of that Deck to the Player on your left. Once every Player has a 2-card Weapon Set from each Weapon Deck (6 cards in total), everyone shuffles their chosen cards with their Vehicle Card Decks thus creating their Player Decks. Put all the unused weapons back to the box.
5. Set Gear Level to 2 and set Condition and Handling to maximal values on all chosen Vehicle boards using Condition, Handling and Gear tokens.
6. Each Player places Armor tokens on their Vehicle board to the right of the Condition track, on the skull symbol. From top to bottom - green, yellow, red.
7. Starting from the first one to choose, in clockwise order, every Player places their Vehicle miniature on one of the spaces marked on the board, within the yellow frame shown on the previous pages.
8. Once all Players have decided on their starting position, the game can begin!

Win Conditions

There are two ways to win the game.

Elimination

If you are the only Player who has not been eliminated - you are immediately the winner!

Player Elimination

If at any moment your Vehicle Condition drops to the skull symbol and you have no more Armor tokens on that field - you are eliminated!

Immediately take your Vehicle and Initiative Token off the board. You can no longer take any action. Better luck next time! Note that if it is another Player's turn, they take your Initiative token as a Trophy.

First to the Finish Line

If at the end of the round there is no Road Event card face-down on the Events Row - the Player who has their Vehicle miniature closest to the Far Ahead line is the winner!

If there is a tie - the Player with the highest Gear among the tied Players is the winner.

If there is still a tie - the Player who is first on the Initiative Track among the tied Players is the winner.

Game Flow

The game of Death Roads consists of a few consecutive rounds. Every round in the game follows this pattern, including the first and the last one (so there are no skipped phases).

Round Order

1. Initiative Phase
2. Preparation Phase
3. Reveal Event Phase
4. Race Phase
   • Player turn order: 1. Apply Status tokens. 2. Play Actions*, Focus, Pass or Skid. 3. Dirt Lane setback.
   • *Play ONE Card Action, ONE Driver Action, or BOTH in any order.
5. Resolve Event Phase

Initiative Phase

In this phase, Players rearrange the Vehicle order on The Initiative Track according to their current position on the board.

Arrange the order in such a way that the Vehicle closer to the Far Ahead line is before the Vehicle more distant to the Far Ahead line on the Initiative Track.

In case of a tie - the Vehicle with higher Gear is before the Vehicle with lower Gear.

If there is still a tie - the Vehicle that is before on the Initiative Track stays before the Vehicle that is behind on the Initiative Track.

Example: Yellow (1) is closest to the Far Ahead Line so put its Initiative token on the 1st space of the Initiative Track. Orange (2) and Blue (3) are at an equal distance from the Far Ahead Line, but since Blue is in 4th Gear and Orange is in 3rd, Blue will be second and Orange third on the Initiative Track and next round. Even though Red (4) is in 5th Gear, it is the farthest from the Far Ahead Line so it will go last.

Initiative priority

1. On-board position (closest to the Far Ahead line first)
2. Gear (higher Gear first)
3. Initiative Track position (remains the same)

Preparation Phase

Prepare for the round.

Preparation Order

1. Set Handling to maximal value
2. Draw action Cards
   • 2a. Discard any number of action cards in your hand
   • 2b. Draw new action cards from your Deck until you have 5 cards in your hand

Gain Handling

Handling shows how well you can control your Vehicle. It allows you to perform Actions, but be very careful - poor Handling means a dangerous Skid!

At this point, your Handling token should be aside the Handling track.

In this step, just put your Handling token back on the leftmost spot on the Handling Track on your Vehicle board.

Drawing Action Cards

You may discard any number of the action cards in your hand, then draw new action cards from your Deck until you have 5.

If you already have 5 or more action cards in your hand, you don't need to discard any of them, but you won't draw more action cards during this phase.

If you have to draw a card, but your Deck is empty - simply reshuffle your Discard and flip it face down, creating your new Deck.

Reveal Event Phase

In this phase, Players check what happens on the next stage of the road.

The Player with the Vehicle on the first spot on the Initiative Track flips the leftmost Road Event card on the Event Track face up so everyone can read it. That Player draws a Lane card if indicated on the flipped Road Event by the lane-card icon and places the Road Event Token near the affected Lane next to its Far Ahead Line. The leftmost Asphalt Lane is always considered to be Lane "1" and every subsequent Asphalt Lane is designated as "2", "3" etc (ignore Dirt Lanes). Put the Road Event Token on that Lane with the event color side up (red or green). Reshuffle Lane cards. If there is no Lane with the drawn number, remove that Lane card from the game and draw again.

If there is a Final Stretch card above the current Road Event card - flip it face up as well.

Note: In general, you should avoid the lanes with the Road Event token with its red background showing, but the green background side up suggests something positive. Some events affect the whole board.

A Road Event card shows: 1. Name 2. Image 3. Effect 4. Draw a Lane Card icon

When you have to put a Lane Overlay on the board, place it so it reduces the number of playable lanes by 1. When you are asked to place or move a Lane Overlay that is already on the board, simply slide it one lane closer to the opposite side of the board. Once placed, Lane Overlay stays until the end of the game.

Race Phase

This is the main phase of the game. In the Race Phase, Players take actions and perform Skids.

During the Race Phase, Players take alternating turns until there is no Player with their Handling token on the Handling track. The first turn is for the Player who has their token on the first spot of the Initiative Track. Then, the Player with their token on the second spot of the Initiative Track performs their turn and so on. When there are no Players with their Handling token on their Handling track - proceed to the Resolve Event Phase.

Note: If you still have your Handling token on your Handling track - you still have to take a turn (and possibly pass), even if there are Players already out of action. This means you would not necessarily play the same number of turns in a round as other Players.

If there are no more Road Event cards left and the last revealed card has the checkered-flag-with-red-X icon - simply discard it and draw a new one to replace it!

Race Phase Order

Player Turns: First Player Turn, Second Player Turn, Third Player Turn and so on. Then check: is there at least one Player with their Handling token on their Handling track? If YES, return to Player Turns. If NO, this is the end of the Race Phase.

Player Turn

Players may use cards on their hand only during their own turn so this is the most vital part of the game.

To perform your turn, follow these steps:

Player Turn Order

1. Apply Status tokens
2. Skid, Pass, Focus or Play Actions
3. Dirt Lane Setback

Apply Status Tokens

Status tokens show what happens with your Vehicle. Usually, you want to avoid them, but some powerful actions can force you to take them. If you have any Status Tokens near your Vehicle board, you should resolve them one by one in any order.

STUN - lose 1 Handling or declare to play no Actions this turn, then discard this token. If you declared to play no Actions you still have to either Focus or Pass.

If you drop below 1 Handling as an effect of Stun, perform Skid after resolving all your remaining Status tokens.

If your Handling is below 1 before Apply Status tokens phase, discard all Stun tokens without resolving them.

BURN - discard an action card of your choice from your hand, then discard this token. It has no effect if you have no cards in your hand. This time, you were lucky!

VEER - Shuffle all Skid cards into the Skid Deck. Draw and resolve 1 Skid card for every Veer token you have, then discard the tokens.

Skid, Pass, Focus or Play Actions

If your Handling token is to the right of "1" on your Handling track at the end of Apply Status tokens step - you must perform a Skid in the next step.

If you have any positive Handling, you may either Pass, Focus or Play Actions.

Skid

Performing a Skid is mandatory when your Handling is below "1". This means you cannot play Actions this round anymore.

To perform a Skid follow the steps below.

Skid Order

1. Take the Status tokens corresponding to the icons under and to the left of your Handling token.
2. Remove your Handling token from your Handling track and put it aside.
3. Put your Initiative token slightly off its spot, to mark you ended this round.
4. Check your current Gear - the higher the Gear the more dangerous the Skid is.
5. Shuffle all Skid cards into the Skid Deck.
6. Draw Skid cards - draw the number equal to your Gear level and place them face down in a row.
7. Flip the leftmost face-down Skid card face up.
8. Resolve the flipped Skid card.
9. If there is any face-down Skid card in the row and you have not triggered Far Behind - go to point 6. and continue.

After a Skid, you can no longer take turns during the current round. Don't worry, you will regain your maximum Handling at the beginning of the next round. If you suffer any Handling loss this round after a Skid - simply ignore it!

Skid Example: It is a Simple Bob's turn and he's gonna skid! He takes two Stun tokens because of his Handling token position, then puts the Handling token aside. Next, he shuffles all Skid cards together. Bob is in 4th Gear, so he draws 4 Skid cards and puts them in a face-down row.

He flips up the first card - it is "move left with gear down", which Bob resolves. It means his Vehicle bashes the opponent, dealing it damage!

He flips up the second card - this time it is "move back", which Bob decides to ignore thanks to his passive skill.

He flips up the third card - "move back" again! Now, Bob has no choice and has to resolve the effect. Unfortunately, he went Far Behind suffering 3 damage.

As his last decision, Bob can now come back to the board on any free space next to Far Behind line. He chooses to place his car away from the Red Car. There is still one more unresolved Skid card, but it is simply discarded without resolving its effect, since Bob has just gone Far Behind.

Pass

Remove your Handling token from your Handling track and put it aside. Put your Initiative token slightly off its spot to mark you ended this round. From now until the end of the round, you cannot take any actions (including Skid), but you cannot suffer any Handling loss either.

This is the only action you can take if you still have Handling but have no more cards in your hand.

Focus

Discard one card from your hand and simply do nothing. Sometimes, it might be worth waiting for your opponents to act first. Remember, you can avoid the effects of the STUN Status by Focusing (see STUN status p.12).

Play Actions

Now is your turn to act! In this phase, Players use cards in their hand to drive and shoot opponents. During your turn, you can play only one Card Action from your hand, use one Driver Action or do both in any order.

If you drop below 1 Handling after you have played your first Action, you cannot play any more Actions. You will have to resolve your Skid next turn.

Discard: When you have to discard a card - just put it into your Discard.

Discard: The pile of your used action cards is called the Discard. Keep it face up near your Deck. At the beginning of the game your Discard should be empty.

Draw: Each time you have to draw a card, you draw it from your Deck. If you have to draw a card, but your Deck is empty - simply reshuffle your Discard and flip it face down, creating your new Deck.

Hand: During a game keep all action cards you draw from your Deck hidden to the opponents. Although you are not obligated to literally keep your cards in your hands - for the sake of convenience we refer to your cards pool as your hand. You can always check your hand, but you are not allowed to see your opponents' hands.

Each action card has its Handling cost in the upper left corner. You cannot play any more Actions when your Handling is less than 1 (you have your Handling token on a spot with an icon instead of a number).

You can always play any Actions you want if you have at least 1 Handling - even if the Action cost exceeds your current Handling. To play a card follow these steps.

Playing an action card

1. Put the action card face up near your Vehicle board so every Player can get familiarized with its effect.
2. Pay the Action Handling cost - which means you have to move your Handling token the number of spots to the right equal to the Action Handling cost. If there are no more spots - simply ignore the exceeding movement of your Handling token.
3. Resolve every effect on the action card assigned to your current Gear. Top to bottom, left to right. You cannot ignore any of the effects listed.
4. Discard that action card.

Remember! You can always play any Action, as long as you have at least 1 Handling. Do epic stuff now! Suffer the consequences later!

There are a few types of action cards you can choose from.

Vehicle Cards

There are yellow and blue (illustration background) Vehicle cards. Both are assigned to your Vehicle, and every Vehicle's set is slightly different. Mechanically, they are the same, as the background color only suggests what to expect from the cards (yellow tend to have more movement forward/backward while blue cards tend to have more sideways movement).

A Vehicle card shows: 1. Cost 2. Name 3. Image 4. Vehicle Deck symbol 5. Card effects dependent on Gear Level

Weapon Cards

Weapon cards are red. You compile your set of Weapon cards at the beginning of a game.

A Weapon card shows: 1. Cost 2. Name 3. Image 4. Weapon Pair Code 5. Range/Area of effect 6. Target Effect Box 7. (optional) If Hit Box

Weapon Pair Code

The Letter represents which Deck the card comes from ("F" is for "Front Weapons", "M" is for "Middle Weapons" and "B" is for "Back Weapons"). The numbers represent which pair the card belongs to as each number is printed on exactly two cards that go together.

Notice the red frame at the bottom of the card - this is the effect you apply to the enemy Vehicle immediately on hit. Perform If Hit Box effect on your vehicle and only when you hit someone.

Weapon Card in its main part contains a representation of the effective range of the weapon it represents. The following symbols are used:

• Vehicle icon - Represents your Vehicle and is your reference point.
• Red target icon - Represents the maximal range of the attack. The number of such red and white target symbols indicates also how many simultaneous targets can be hit with the given Weapon card.
• Solid line icon (red frame) - Represents a default line of fire of the attack. If there is another Vehicle on a space corresponding to this symbol treat it like the maximal range symbol and ignore any symbols on spaces behind it (the Attack ends here).
• Gray target icon - Represents an alternative maximal range of the attack. You can ignore one of the maximal range symbols on the Weapon card to treat this symbol as a new maximal range symbol.
• Solid line icon (gray) - Represents an alternative line of fire of the attack. It gives you an option to shift the default line of fire and treat it as the default line of fire instead.

Examples

Plasma Shot shoots only forward up to 4 spaces. Because the first two spaces are free, the Attack reaches the Red Car. The forth space will not be considered as the attack ends on the first target.

Laser Shot targets all 4 spaces in front of your Vehicle hitting both the Red Car and the Green Car (and even hitting one space in front of it, not visible).

Power Charge shoots forward in two lanes on the sides of your Vehicle. Because it has a Line of Fire on both lanes, it stops on the first Car encountered (Red and Blue) leaving Green and Orange unharmed.

Rocket Fury targets five spaces in the same row. Note that the target marks on the card are connected, which means you must preserve their position in relation to one another. You can still choose another row, but you cannot target spaces in two different rows.

Laser Burst, just like Laser Shot above, hits all targets in its path, but here, there are 2 out of 3 possible paths to choose from. It may hit Red, Green and Orange; Red, Green and Blue or just Orange and Blue depending on the paths selected. Note that the target marks on the card are connected, so you couldn't just cherry-pick all four occupied spaces.

Vehiculum Dentatis can hit only the space in front of a Vehicle. Keep in mind, it deals damage 3 separate times instead of just once. This means, it could potentially take an Armor token as a Trophy AND still damage the opponent even more.

Immortar is a powerful weapon, but it targets only a specific space, exactly 4 positions ahead of its owner. Note the black marked spaces on the card - their purpose is to help you find the exact position. It doesn't matter if the black marked space is occupied or not.

Nitro Blowout is a powerful Signature Weapon used with the Signature Weapons module (see p.28), however, it works like a standard weapon. Keep in mind that no matter how many Vehicles it hits at once, the If Hit effect is performed only once.

Hook Back not only damages an opponent's Vehicle, but also moves it backward!

Driver Actions

Although a Driver Action is not exactly a card, its effect is pretty similar to a Card Action. The main difference is in how you play such an Action.

Each Driver Action is available for its owner in every turn, but you can play only one Driver Action per turn. To play it, you have to discard a card from your hand (as indicated by its cost by this icon) and pay the Handling cost e.g. 2.

Driver Passive Skill

As an additional bonus, each Driver has a unique skill that helps you in some aspects of the game.

Let it slide - When performing a Skid with your Handling below 1, you may ignore your Handling below 1 and skip one Skid card after revealing it.

Condition

It represents your Vehicle's "health points". Once your Vehicle's Condition drops below 1 - ignore the rest of the damage received that time. If you have any Armor tokens on your Vehicle Board - turn the top one face up - you may immediately use the revealed effect, then set your Condition to the maximum value. Afterwards, if it's another Player's turn – give them your Armor token as a Trophy, otherwise, discard it. Trophies have no default effect, but some in-game effects may refer to it. If you have to lose an Armor token but you have none left - your Vehicle is considered destroyed and you are out of the game. Take your Vehicle miniature off the board. If it's another player turn - give them your Initiative token as a Trophy. You can no longer take actions nor win the game.

Handling

Handling indicates how much you can do and how much others can do to you until you lose control over your Vehicle. You regain full Handling at the beginning of each round. You have to perform a Skid if your Handling drops below 1 (see: Skid p.13).

Gears

You change your Gear level typically by Card Actions and Driver Actions. Higher Gear means more risky Skids, but most of the Card Actions benefit from higher Gears.

You can never exceed any maximum and/or minimum value on Condition, Handling nor Gear track. If you would - simply ignore that excessive movement of your token and leave that token on the extreme value of the corresponding track. This means you may still choose to go up while on 5th Gear or go down on 1st Gear - its effect would be simply ignored.

Movement

The most common effect is a movement. It allows you to move your Vehicle miniature in the indicated direction. Sometimes you have a choice where to move e.g. a diagonal movement icon.

Bash

When you are about to move your Vehicle into a space occupied by another Vehicle, cancel that movement. Deal your bash damage to that Vehicle instead. If there is a red arrow symbol in that movement effect icon, move the bashed Vehicle in the direction indicated by the red arrow (if there are multiple red arrows, you choose the direction). Your Vehicle stays in place.

Far Ahead

When you are about to move your Vehicle through the Far Ahead line, cancel that movement. Instead move every other Vehicle on every other Lane one space back simultaneously. Note that Vehicles on your Line stay unaffected - they are in your aerodynamic tunnel.

Far Behind

When you are about to move your Vehicle through the Far Behind line, remove it from the board instead. After resolving all the remaining effects of the current Action - suffer the indicated Condition Damage and put your Vehicle on any free space near the Far Behind line (in case of multiple Vehicles removed from the board, do it all in the Initiative order), even a Dirt Lane. If you cross the Far Behind line while performing a Skid, discard the rest of the Skid cards without resolving them.

Barriers

When you are about to move into a Barrier, cancel that movement. Instead, your Vehicle suffers Condition damage and Handling damage as indicated near the Barrier.

Dirt Lane Setback

It is much harder to keep up driving on gravel.

If, after your turn your Vehicle is on a Dirt Lane, perform move back 1 action.

Note: It does not matter if you Skid, Pass, Focus or Play Actions. If you are on the Dirt Lane - you have to move back. But if you have already Passed or Skid this round, you skip this phase as well, thus not moving back.

Resolving Damage Chart

Is your Condition higher than the Damage taken?

• YES: Move Condition token to the right by the value of Damage taken. Go to END.

• NO: Do you have any Armor token left?

  • YES: Set your Condition to max. You may immediately use your top Armor token bonus. Armor token becomes a Trophy.
  • NO: Remove miniature from the board. You are eliminated, you can no longer take actions nor win the game. Initiative token becomes a Trophy.

  Then: Is it another Player's turn?

  • YES: Give the Trophy to the active Player.
  • NO: Discard the Trophy.

END

Resolve Event Phase

Resolve the Final Stretch card (if any), but do not discard it. The Final Stretch card stays for the rest of the game.

Resolve the current Road Event card, then discard it.

You are ready!

This concludes the explanation of the main rules you need to know to be able to play.

On the next pages, you will find additional examples as well as special rules for Yokomoto Bikes, Signature Weapons and the Cooperative/Solo game mode.

Moving Example

Green Car has an open position to move forward! It is in 5th Gear and has two cards in hand. It may choose to play Overload and move forward by 2, but the movement would be changed to Far Ahead. Although Overload allows to move by 2, this is only one movement symbol, which means Far Ahead would trigger once. For that reason Green Car decides to play Tokio Drift instead! It has two separate symbols, so Hot Rodent moves forward twice and triggers Far Ahead twice.

Note that Red Car is on the same Asphalt Lane as Green Car, which means it does not move back at all. The Blue Car, on the other hand, will be moved two spaces back! If Green used Overload trigerring Far Ahead once the Blue Car would move back only once too.

Turn Example

It is Orange car's turn.

Although it has only 3 Handling left, it decides to take the opportunity to obtain Blue's last Armor token. As its first action, Orange plays Starboard Volley! It reduces its Handling by 3 - it means in the next turn it has to skid, but for now let's resolve the attack.

At first, Starboard Volley deals 7 damage. Because Blue has only 4 Condition left, it has to lose its last Armor token.

Blue sets its Condition to the max value, which is 9. Blue flips its last Armor token face up - it allows the owner to move in any direction. Blue decides to move forward. It could possibly move left to avoid a contact with a barrier, but is too afraid of lagging behind. Because it is Orange's turn, Blue gives the Armor token to Orange as a Trophy. However there is still some effect on the weapon card to resolve.

Now Blue has to move right by 2. There is a Barrier, so Blue moves only once and the exceeding movement is changed into the Barrier hit. Blue loses another 3 Condition (since it has 9) and 2 Handling. Although Blue has no more Armor tokens, it is still in play and can possibly win the game. The Starboard Volley is finally resolved.

Although Orange has played only one Card Action this turn, it cannot play a Driver Action, because it has less than 1 Handling left, which means its turn is over.

Adjacent Vehicle

The term "adjacent" in Death Roads: All Stars refers to any Vehicle one space away from target Vehicle also counting diagonally.

In the example on the right, every Vehicle is considered to be adjacent to Red.

Yellow is adjacent to Red, Orange and Blue, while Green is Adjacent only to Red.

Motorbikes Rules

There is a special Vehicle in Death Roads: All Stars - a pair of bikes! You choose them as any Vehicle, but since you control two Vehicles at the same time, they have their own set of rules to make it possible.

Setup

1. When you place your bikes on the board, you have to place two of them. You can place both on the same space side-by-side or on two separate free spaces.
2. Set both Initiative tokens on the same spot.
3. Set both bikes' Conditions to their respective maximum values.
4. Set both bikes' Gears to 2.
5. Prepare Armor tokens for both bikes separately.
6. Set Handling to its maximum value. Bikes share it, so there is only one track.

Initiative Phase

During the Initiative phase, only the bike that is closest to the Far Ahead line is considered and its position on the Initiative Track is the initiative for both bikes for that round.

Example: Wakizashi is in 3 vs Yellow's 1 so bikes will go first. The fact that Katana is last does not count.

Race Phase

1. Every time you play a Card Action or Driver Action, you may choose to use it for one or both of the bikes in any order. You pay the Handling cost only once.
2. During the game, bikes may move into and out of one space without any collisions. Bikes cannot trigger a Bash attack on each other. If one bike would move onto or through the space occupied by the other bike, this movement is performed without any collision (even if, by physically moving one bike model in that direction would cause them to collide in real life).
3. There is no friendly fire between bikes. If the weapon area of effect of one bike would target another bike, the effect of that attack on the targeted bike is ignored, i.e., bikes cannot hit each other with their weapons.
4. When bikes share the same space and use a weapon card or whenever the used weapon card's area of effect from both bikes hits the same space, the effect of the weapon on such a space is performed for each bike separately, i.e., that space is hit twice.
5. If bikes occupy the same space that is targeted by another vehicle's weapon card or Bash attack, or one weapon card's Area of Effect targets two spaces that are occupied by the bikes, both bikes suffer the effect of that attack separately.
6. Status Tokens are gained, kept and suffered by each bike separately. Veer, Acid*, Net* and Buildup* statuses are considered to affect only the bike that actually got them. Put these tokens on the left side of the Vehicle Board for Katana and on the right side of the Vehicle Board for Wakizashi. For Stun and Burn, due to their effect, it is not important which bike has them.

* Tokens from expansions

Skid and Pass

1. Performing the Pass action affects both bikes. They do not get their turns until the next Round.
2. If bikes' Handling drops below 1, they both have to perform Skid in their next turn. Here's how to do it:
   • Draw the number of Cards equal to the higher Gear of two bikes.
   • Before revealing each card, choose the bike that will suffer its effect (only one bike is affected by each card).

Bike Elimination

Bikes have two Initiative tokens that are stacked.

If one of the bikes is eliminated, the Player controlling them stays in the game. From that moment forward, they control only one bike. Remove one of the bikes' Initiative tokens and treat it as a regular Trophy leaving the other Initiative token on the Initiative Track.

Once the second bike is eliminated, the Player controlling the bikes is officially eliminated from the game and the bikes pair considered destroyed as a Vehicle.

Bikes Order

If there is an effect that needs the resolve order and both bikes are affected, the active Player chooses the order between them.

Signature Weapons

This is a little module you can add to the game if you want. It is completely optional. It works with both VS and Coop/Solo mode, although for Coop/Solo it lowers the difficulty level.

Signature Weapons have a purple background and a star symbol near the vehicle logo as shown in the picture.

Setup

Take the Signature Weapon card assigned to your Vehicle. Put that card face up near your Vehicle board.

Obtaining and using Signature Weapon

When your Vehicle loses its yellow Armor token, simply add your Signature Weapon to your hand. From now on, use it as a regular action card.

Motorbikes: Add your Signature Weapon to your hand when the first of your Bikes is eliminated instead of when you discard the yellow Armor token.

Additionally, you may also remove one Weapon set of your choice from the game.

To do so, look for the both cards of the set in your hand, Deck or Discard. Shuffle your Deck afterwards.

Coop/Solo Mode

Nowadays, groups of rogue drivers start to gang up. It might be a lot safer to stick together – at least until we get rid of them!

In this mode, you work together as a team to eliminate autonomous enemies. You can adjust the difficulty level to your needs. You can even play it solo!

Setup

Follow the Setup for regular game with two exceptions:

• Ignore step 9. of Prepare Main Board section – you don't use Final Stretch cards in Coop/Solo mode.
• During step 7. of the Prepare Players section you can put your Vehicle miniatures only on the spaces on the second row from the Far Behind line (see picture to the right).

Next proceed to the preparation of the AI.

Prepare AI

You should use at least one Boss, however you can use multiple Bosses and even some Drones to increase the difficulty level! We suggest using one Boss per Player.

Boss

1. Randomly pick one of the unused Vehicles (except Motorbikes) to be the Boss.
2. Take the Vehicle board, corresponding miniature and Initiative token for the Boss. Prepare Armor, Condition, Gear and Handling tokens.
3. Place the Initiative token on the first free space of the Initiative track. If you run out of spaces, just put it behind the last token on that track.
4. Set Armor tokens like for a Player. Set Condition and Handling tokens on max values of the corresponding tracks. Set Gear token on Gear 3, instead of 2, like with Players. Boss Cars are considered to always be on Gear 3 for game mechanics purposes, they never change that.
5. Randomly, pick one of the AI Character Type cards and put it next to the Boss' Vehicle board.
6. Randomly, pick two Weapon cards and put them face up next to the Boss' Vehicle board. Note: Just two single cards, not two pairs of matching cards. It is recommended to pick one "M" and one "B" Weapon cards, although you may experiment with different compositions!
7. Put the Boss miniature on the board in the row second closest to the Far Ahead Line, as close to the center lane as possible.
8. Shuffle all 7 AI Action cards creating the AI Action Deck and place it nearby. This Deck is shared by every AI Vehicle.

An example of a Boss Vehicle setup: Little Monster with 3 Armor tokens, Berserker Type AI Driver and two Weapon cards, one back mounted - Spray'n'Pray and one middle mounted - Warsaw.

Drones

Although completely optional, you can add one or more Drones to increase the difficulty level. You can even decide how tough they are!

1. Randomly pick one of the Drone boards.
2. Take the corresponding Drone and Initiative tokens. Prepare Condition and Handling Tracking tokens. If you want an even greater challenge, you can prepare between 1 and 3 Armor tokens as well.
3. Place the Initiative token on the first free space of the Initiative track. If you run out of spaces, just put it behind the last token on that track.
4. If you took any, put the prepared Armor token(s) on the Drone board. Set Condition and Handling Tracking tokens on max values of the corresponding tracks. Drones do not use the Gear Tracking tokens – they simply don't track Gears at all and are considered to always be on Gear 1 for game mechanics purposes.
5. Randomly pick one of the AI Character Type cards and put it next to the Drone board.
6. Randomly pick a single Weapon card and put it face up next to the Drone board. Note: Just one single card, not one pair of matching cards. It is recommended to pick one "M" Weapon card, although you may experiment with different compositions!
7. Put the Drone token on a space of the board behind the Boss miniature, as close to the center lane as possible.

An Example of a Drone setup: Heavy Drone with 1 Armor token, Brutal Type AI Driver and 1 Weapon card - Diagonal Shot.

Difficulty Adjustment

If you still want an even greater challenge, you can fight with multiple Bosses and Drones. Just follow their setup as many times as you want, each time for a new Boss or Drone. Keep in mind that all Bosses and Drones share the AI Action deck, so just prepare it once (Boss Setup 8.).

Final setup for 2 Players vs 1 Red Boss and 1 Drone.

Win Conditions

PLAYERS WIN WHEN all Bosses are eliminated. Drones don't matter.

PLAYERS LOSE WHEN one of them is eliminated.

PLAYERS LOSE WHEN the game ends and there is still a Boss in the game.

AI

Game Flow

In Coop/Solo Mode, most of the concepts from the basic game mode remain the same, including the overall game flow. What is new is how to resolve AI turns and how to use some of the AI components.

AI Character Types

Those cards tell you what is important for a given AI Driver and what kind of moves they are capable of.

An AI Character Type card shows: 1. Name 2. Image 3. Traits 4. Default Action 5. Signature Move

Traits

Aggressive – If a driver is Aggressive, they prioritize damaging Players' Vehicles over moving forward. If the driver can't damage a Player, they want to move toward the closest Player's Vehicle instead (bashing included).

Runner - If a driver is a Runner, they prioritize moving forward over damaging Players' Vehicles. That doesn't mean a Runner is harmless!

Friendly Fire – If a driver has this trait, the driver is O.K. with damaging other AIs or themselves if that means they can achieve something by it. Without this trait, the driver won't perform any action that would damage another AI or themselves.

Reckless - If a driver has this trait, the driver is O.K. with using an action for the last Handling point(s) (resulting in a future Skid) if that means they can achieve something by it. Without this trait, the driver would rather pass than drop below 1 Handling.

AI Driver Actions

Default Action – the most common action this Driver will attempt to perform – but only if they cannot perform the action from the AI Action card they drew. This action often has additional rules described there that you need to follow.

Signature Move – a special action this Driver will try from time to time. This action often has additional rules described there that you need to follow.

"X" in the Signature Action cost place means that the cost is equal to the cost of the used Weapon Card (see: Shooting Weapons p.34).

AI Action Cards

An AI Action card shows: 1. Special Boss Action Cost 2. Special Boss Action 3. Card Action Cost 4. Card Action Effect 5. Drone Icon (optional)

Special Boss Action Cost - the cost in Handling for the Boss Vehicle using the Special Boss Action. "X" means the cost is equal to the cost of the used Weapon Card (see: Shooting Weapons p.34).

Special Boss Action - a powerful action unique for every Boss Vehicle and performed only by the Vehicle indicated by Vehicle symbol shown if it is in play as a Boss.

Card Action Cost – the cost in Handling the current AI Vehicle needs to pay in order to perform the Card Action. "X" means either that the cost is equal to the cost of the used Weapon Card (see: Shooting Weapons p.34) or of the Signature Move.

Note: The cost of any Action for Drones is always 1 regardless of the printed cost (see: AI Special Rules p.34).

Card Action Effect – AI will always try to perform this before considering its Default Action. If that's not possible due to AI Character Type's restrictions, AI will go with their Default AI Character Type Action.

Drone Spawn icon – if it's present on the card drawn by a Boss, the Boss will perform Drone Spawn (see: AI turn).

AI Turn

When it's the AI's turn, follow the rules:

1. Resolve the Active AI's Status tokens.
2. When the active AI has less than 1 Handling, perform Skid and go to step 9. Dirt Lane Setback.
3. Draw and flip up an AI Action card from the AI Action Deck.
4. If the Boss Indicator matches the Boss in game, that Boss tries to perform the Special Boss Action instead of the regular turn. Note: It doesn't matter whether that Boss has already taken its turn or whoever's turn it should be – that Boss tries to perform the Special Boss Action using standard AI Turn rules. Just treat the Special Boss Action as the Card Action and that Boss as the Active AI.
5. If the AI would Skid by doing the Card Action and the AI Character Type does not have the Reckless trait – pass instead. Go to the Dirt Lane Setback step. If the Active AI has the Reckless trait, try to perform the action.
6. If the Card Action isn't forbidden because of the AI Character traits – perform it and go to step 9. Dirt Lane Setback. If shooting without targeting any of the Player's Vehicle is the only possible action - treat it as forbidden as well. If the AI cannot perform the Card Action, try their Default Action instead.
7. If the Default Action isn't forbidden because of the AI Driver traits – perform it and go to step 9. Dirt Lane Setback.
8. Try to Focus by losing 1 Handling. If losing 1 Handling would lead to Skid, Pass instead. If the Active AI has more than 1 Handling, lose 1 Handling and perform Focus.
9. Dirt Lane Setback (Boss Only) – if that AI is on the Dirt Lane, perform movement back as usual.
10. Drone Spawn (Boss Only) – if the AI Action card has a Drone Spawn icon, that Boss spawns the first missing Drone on a space adjacent to that Boss and closest to any Player (higher on the Initiative track if multiple Players are closest). Put its Initiative token behind the last Initiative token already on the track. If there are no more Drones to spawn – instead, all Players' Vehicles suffer damage equal to the number of Drones that are on the board. This action is triggered no matter what the Boss did. Even if it skids or passes - the Drone is still released!

Optional Actions – some AI Action icons are optional. These are represented by icons inside a frame. AI will perform such actions only if that lets them satisfy its goals better.

Example of an optional "Move 1 in any direction" icon

AI Priorities

When moving, AI will try to satisfy the highest possible priority:

1. (Aggressive Only) Bash a Player's Vehicle or at least move towards the closest Player's Vehicle.
2. Move out of the Dirt Lane.
3. Move Forward.
4. (Runner Only) Bash a Player's Vehicle.
5. Move sideways, toward the center lane of the board. To the dotted yellow line in case of doubt.
6. Move back.

If there are multiple spaces matching, AI would stick to the one closer to Far Ahead, then, closer to the center of the board.

Closest Player's Vehicle

The Player's Vehicle that is at the closest distance from the active AI. Count the spaces only Horizontally/Vertically, not Diagonally. If two or more Players' Vehicles are at the same distance, the one highest on the Initiative Track is considered the Closest Player.

Pushing Player's Vehicle

When AI has to move a Player's Vehicle, AI will try to satisfy the highest possible priority:

1. (Aggressive Only) Inflict most Damage to Players' Vehicles.
2. Move them to the Dirt Lane.
3. Move them back.
4. (Racer Only) Inflict most Damage to Players' Vehicles.
5. Move them away from the center of the board.

AI Special Rules

Gears

All Drones are considered to always be on Gear 1, and all Bosses are always on Gear 3. There is no way to change it, increase nor decrease.

Shooting Weapons

AIs always use the displayed Weapon cards prepared for them in the Setup.

When Shooting, Boss can use all their weapons simultaneously and pays only the Handling cost of the most expensive card used (indicated by "X"). Boss can also use only one weapon if that is more beneficial.

Drones always use the attached weapon, but pay only 1 Handling for it regardless of the Weapon Cost.

Status Effects

Drones get only 1 Status token per action regardless of the number printed on the Action's effect (e.g. if a weapon that hits a Drone gives 2 Burn tokens, a Drone will only get 1 Burn Token).

Status Effects:

1. Burn: In Step 3 of the AI Turn, This AI draws a card but doesn't flip it face-up. Instead this AI can only perform its Default Action (Skip Steps 4-6 of the AI Turn).
2. Stun: If the number of Stun tokens this AI has is smaller than this AIs Handling it loses 1 Handling for each Stun token it has. Otherwise, it discards all Stun Tokens and skips steps 3 to 7.
3. Veer, Acid*, Netted*: effects are the same as in the normal game. * Acid and Netted are Status tokens from Expansions

Other Rules

Drones can occupy the same space as other drones and never trigger Bash attack against other Drones.

Drones lose only 1 Handling per action regardless of the number printed on the Action's effect (e.g. if a weapon that hits Drone removes 3 Handling, a Drone will only suffer 1 Handling loss).

In the Coop/Solo Mode you do not keep Armor tokens as a Trophy - simply discard them when destroyed.

Bosses and Drones don't take Road Events into account when making decisions but suffer their consequences, if possible.

Reference Card Icon Legend

• Movement arrows (up, down, left, right, diagonal) - Move your Vehicle in one of given directions
• Bash icons - Bash an adjacent Vehicle in one of given directions
• Push arrows - Push another Vehicle in one of given directions. This symbol can be attached as an additional effect of Movement or Bash symbols.
• Gear icons - Change Gears as indicated by the arrow
• Condition icon - Condition
• Handling icon - Handling
• Draw a Card icon - Draw a Card
• Discard a Card icon - Discard a Card
• Draw then Discard icon - Draw a Card, then Discard a Card
• Condition Damage icon - Condition Damage
• Handling Damage icon - Handling Damage
• Veer token icon - Take 1 Veer token.
• Stun token icon - Take 1 Stun token.
• Burn token icon - Take 1 Burn token.
• Veer - Draw and perform 1 Skid Card for each Veer token.
• Stun - If you don't Skip, Focus or Pass, lose 1 Handling for each Stun token.
• Burn - Discard a Card for each Burn token.

Credits

Game Produced by The Knights of Unity, 2022

Design: Jasiek Łuszczki

Development: Łukasz Włodarczyk

Art Direction & Initial Game Concept: Mariusz Szulc

Art: Mariusz Szulc, Patrycja Boś, Anna Martseniuk, Tyma Sobala, Dawid Malik, Marcin Szewczyk, Marcin Topolski, Jędrzej Walczyszyn

DTP: Klaudia Korcz

Testers: Ali Kołodziejczyk, Kinga Rusinek, Szymon Baliński, Aleksander Biela, Jimmy Durden, Jacek Dymalski, Bartek Kier, Marcel Kiszka, Aleksander Malecki, Adam Małek, Robert Plesowicz and many, many, many others!

Special thanks to the great community of our KS backers and Awaria Prądu game pub in Wrocław. Your ideas and positive energy keep us going!

Many, many thanks also for Kasia Gruszczyńska, Magdalena Ponarad, Patryk Manelski, Hubert Matuszewski, Bartek Nowakowski, Mateusz Rychlik, Damian Seweryński, Wojtek Wiśniewski, Janko Walski