Dire Alliance: Horror
Dire Alliance: Horror Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Game Contents
- Using this Rulebook
- Game Setup
- Game Board Overview
- How to Play Battle Mode
- Scenarios
- General Keywords
- Raid Mode
- Raid Mode Setup
- How to Play Raid Mode
- Hero Act Phase
- Gaining Cards
- Boost
- Exert
- Enemies Act Phase
- Claiming Objectives
- Heroes React Phase
- Enemies React Phase
- Additional Raid Mode Rules
Overview
Dire Alliance is a quick-playing game of tactical combat for 1–4 players. There are two ways to play the game: Battle Mode (2 players, competitive) and Raid Mode (1–4 players, cooperative).
In both game modes, players use a hand of cards to activate their fighters to move, battle, gain new cards, and perform special abilities. The first player to accomplish the goal as described on the chosen scenario sheet wins.
Game Contents
- 1 Double-sided Game Board
- 6 Reference Boards
- 2 Double-sided Faction Boards
- 4 Hero Class Boards
- 13 Custom Dice
- 10 Combat Dice (5 red and 5 blue)
- 2 Vampire Dice
- 1 Hex Die
- 10 Scenario Sheets
- 293 Cards
- 20 Leader Cards
- 5 Leader Reference Cards
- 40 Faction Cards
- 84 Villain Cards
- 20 Hero Cards
- 4 Hero Reference Cards
- 80 Hero Class Cards
- 16 Dread Cards
- 24 Minion Cards
- 123 Tokens
- 58 Fighter Tokens (4 heroes, 4 leaders, 1 Rutger, 1 Ellis Wolf Form, 3 Invisibility, 20 Grievers, 5 Reclaimed, and 20 Shroud)
- 26 Objective Tokens (13 gravestones, 13 vessels)
- 1 Initiative Token
- 5 Sated Tokens
- 1 Coffin Token
- 16 Wound Tokens
- 12 Class Tokens
Component Overview
[INSERT CARD BREAKDOWNS AND TOKEN OVERVIEW]
Source note: the component overview is a placeholder in the playtest document. The reference boards and fighter cards pages that follow it are image-only and are not transcribed.
Using this Rulebook
The rules in the "Game Setup" and "Playing the Game" sections are assuming players are playing Battle Mode with 2 players using the "Beaten Path" scenario. Rules for other scenarios and Raid Mode are presented later in the rules (see "Raid Mode" on page XX and "Scenarios" on page XX).
Game Setup
To set up Battle Mode, players perform the following steps in order:
- Choose Scenario: Players mutually decide on a Battle Mode scenario to play by selecting the corresponding scenario sheet. For your first game (and for the purposes of these rules) it is assumed the players have chosen the "Beaten Path" scenario.
- Place Game Board: Unfold the game board corresponding to your chosen scenario and place it in the center of the play area with the appropriate side faceup. For your first game, this will be the "Darkwood" side of the board.
- Determine Player Colors: Randomly choose a player to flip the initiative token; that player will be the resulting color. Set the initiative token to the color indicated by the chosen scenario; the player of that color begins the game with initiative. a. Note: For this demo kit, the "Shroud" player will be the red player, and initiative is assigned accordingly.
- Choose Factions: Each player chooses one faction to play and collects the corresponding faction board (flipped to its "Battle Mode" side), objectives, each fighter card, and 1 fighter token (in their player color) for each fighter corresponding to that faction.
- Choose Leaders: Each player chooses a leader to command their faction, collecting that leader's Reference card, 5 fighter cards, and fighter standee for that leader.
- Create Starting Deck: Each player shuffles together 2 copies of each different fighter card from their chosen faction and leader to create their starting deck of 10 cards.
- Create Play Area: Each player creates their play area by performing the following steps: a. Place your chosen faction board in the center of your play area. b. Create your personal supply of fighter cards by placing each stack of fighter cards near your faction board—each stack should include the 3 remaining copies of a single fighter card. c. Place your starting fighter deck facedown near your faction board, leaving room for a discard pile. It is advised to keep your fighter deck and discard pile on the side of your faction board opposite your fighter supply piles, to avoid any confusion. d. Leave room for a graveyard near your play area.
Players are now ready to play the game!
Setup Diagram
[GRAPHIC of SETUP]
Source note: the setup diagram is a placeholder in the playtest document.
Game Board Overview
The game board is broken up into several areas, each containing a line of sight designator. Each area on the board may contain any number of fighters and a single fighter can only be in one area at a time. Each area is considered adjacent to another area if they share a border line.
How to Play Battle Mode
Battle Mode is played over the course of several game rounds until a player wins by completing the goal as determined by the scenario. In the "XX" scenario, a player wins by claiming three of their opponent's objectives. The game immediately ends when a player claims a third objective and that player wins the game.
Fighters
Each fighter in the game is a fighter, whether it is a leader, minion, or hero (minions and heroes are featured in Raid Mode). Fighter is a term that includes any fighter on the game board that can attack or be attacked.
The Game Round
During a game round, players take turns playing cards from their hands and activating their fighters. The player who has initiative is referred to as the aggressor and their opponent is referred to as the defender. Each game round consists of the following steps resolved in order:
- Aggressor Turn 1: The aggressor plays 2 cards from their hand and then activates fighters, discarding each played card to their personal discard pile.
- Defender Turn 1: The defender plays 2 cards from their hand and then activates fighters, discarding each played card to their personal discard pile.
- Aggressor Turn 2: The aggressor plays all remaining cards from their hand and then activates fighters, discarding each played card to their personal discard pile.
- Defender Turn 2: The defender plays all remaining cards from their hand and then activates fighters, discarding each played card to their personal discard pile.
After resolving these steps, each player draws a new hand of four cards from their deck. Each time a player needs to draw or reveal a card from their deck and none remain, they must shuffle their discard pile together to create a new deck and draw or reveal any remaining cards needed in order to have a hand of four cards.
During your first game playing the "Beaten Path" scenario, if a player ever has three of their opponent's objectives in their play area, the game immediately ends and that player wins. Other scenarios introduce alternative win conditions and end game triggers.
Claiming Initiative
During the defender's turn, that player may choose to discard 1 of the cards they play without resolving it to claim initiative and become the aggressor, while their opponent becomes the defender. When a player claims initiative, they flip the initiative token to their color. This means the player claiming initiative will immediately perform Aggressor Turn 2 turn after claiming initiative during Defender Turn 1. If the player claims initiative during Defender Turn 2, they will take their turn first in the next round during Aggressor Turn 1.
Line of Sight and "See"
Each area on the game board contains a line of sight designator. These designators are used to determine what fighters can see from their current area.
To determine if a fighter can see a game element in a different area, players should draw an imaginary straight line from the line of sight designator in the fighter's area to the designator in the area the fighter is attempting to see. If the line passes over a black line, the fighter cannot see any game element in that area. If the line does not pass over a black line, the fighter can see any game element in that area. Fighters can see their own area and each game element occupying it (unless otherwise specified).
Fighters and other components on the board do not block line of sight.
Activating Fighters
After playing cards on their turn, a player may activate those fighters. Players may only activate fighters corresponding to the cards they played, unless otherwise specified.
Fighter Status
A fighter can be either ready or stunned. A fighter is considered ready if their fighter token is faceup (with the stunned side down). Each fighter begins the game ready. A fighter is stunned if their token is flipped to its stunned side (ready side down). If a fighter is stunned when it is activated, that fighter immediately becomes ready and then activates as normal.
Stunning fighters prevents them from performing opportunity attacks or blocking Control actions. Some effects either allow or force a fighter to perform an action; being stunned does not prevent fighters from performing these actions, and the fighter remains stunned until it is activated. When a fighter is stunned, they retain all other conditions or tokens, unless otherwise specified.
When a fighter is activated, it is referred to as the active fighter during its activation. Each fighter belonging to a player's faction is referred to as a friendly fighter (including their leader) and each fighter belonging to their opponent's faction (including its leader) is referred to as an enemy fighter.
A fighter must perform 1 action during its activation. Any ability on the active fighter's card with an ➤ indicator preceding it is an action (such as, "➤ Name of Special Action") that the active fighter may perform during its activation. These are special actions.
Any fighter may alternatively perform one of the following basic actions during its activation:
- Move: The active fighter may move into an adjacent area. If the active fighter is leaving an area containing 1 or more ready enemy fighters, each ready enemy fighter may first resolve an opportunity attack (see "Opportunity Attacks" on page XX) before the active fighter resolves its move. Some abilities allow a fighter to withdraw, which is different than a Move action (see "Withdraw" on page XX).
- Melee: The active fighter may resolve a melee attack (see "Attacks" on page XX) targeting an enemy fighter in their area.
- Shoot: The active fighter may resolve a shoot attack (see "Attacks" on page XX) targeting an enemy fighter they can see. A fighter may not target an enemy fighter in their area with a Shoot action.
- Focus: The active fighter chooses itself or a friendly fighter in its area to gain 2 cards or chooses a friendly fighter it can see to gain 1 card. When a fighter gains cards, the controlling player moves the appropriate number of cards from that fighter's supply pile to their discard pile.
- Control: If the active fighter is in an area containing an enemy objective and no ready enemy fighters, the controlling player may claim the objective and place it in their play area.
- Interact: Some scenario sheets have a special ➤ Interact action that may be performed by certain fighters. These special actions are detailed on the scenario sheet.
After performing an action, the active fighter's card is placed in the controlling player's discard pile.
Attacks
Fighters may attack to attempt to damage an enemy hero. Attacks are resolved as a result of a Melee attack or a Shoot attack. During an attack, the active fighter is referred to as the attacker and the target fighter is referred to as the target. To resolve an attack, players perform the following steps in order:
- Choose Target: If the active fighter is performing a Melee action, it must choose an enemy fighter in its space as the target. If the active fighter is performing a Shoot action, it must choose an enemy fighter that it can see in an area other than its own.
- Gather Dice: If the active hero is performing a Melee action, the controlling player gathers a number of combat dice equal to the active fighter's melee value. If the active fighter is performing a Shoot action, the controlling player gathers a number of combat dice equal to the active fighter's shoot value. In either case, the target's controlling player gathers a number of combat dice equal to the target fighter's defense value.
- Roll Dice: Both players roll their dice.
- Apply Results: The attacking player counts up the total number of [HIT] results they rolled and the defending player counts up the total number of [BLOCK] results they rolled. a. If the attacking player rolls no [HIT] results, the attack is a miss and the attack ends, do not resolve any further steps in the attack sequence. b. If the defending player rolls more [BLOCK] results than the attacking player rolls [HIT] results, the attack is a miss and the attack ends; do not resolve any further steps in the attack sequence. c. If the attacking player rolls 1 or more [HIT] results, with the total number of [HIT] results equal to or greater than the target's total [BLOCK] results, the attack is a hit and damage is dealt; resolve the next 2 steps of the attack sequence.
- Deal Damage: If the attack is a hit, the target fighter suffers damage (see below).
- Stun Target Hero: After dealing damage to the target fighter, that fighter is stunned; flip that fighter's token to its stunned side.
Multiple Targets vs. Multiple Attacks
If an attack would affect more than a single target, then a single attack roll is made and separate defense rolls are made for each target. If any of the targets affect the attack roll, then the entire attack roll is affected.
In the case of multiple attacks, each attack is made separately following the steps as normal.
Suffering Damage
When a fighter suffers damage, the controlling player must move one fighter card belonging to that fighter to the graveyard (see below). Each time a fighter suffers damage, the controlling player must follow these steps in order:
- The controlling player searches their hand for a fighter card belonging to the damaged fighter, moves it to the graveyard, draws 1 card to replace it, and does not resolve the remaining steps.
- The controlling player searches their deck for a fighter card belonging to the damaged fighter, moves it to the graveyard, and does not resolve the remaining steps.
- The controlling player searches their discard pile for a fighter card belonging to the damaged fighter, moves it to the graveyard, and does not resolve the remaining steps.
- If the controlling player has no fighter card belonging to the damaged fighter in their hand, deck, or discard pile when that fighter suffers damage, the damaged fighter is defeated and their token is removed from the board. Then, the controlling player places two dread cards from the dread pile into their discard pile.
Dread Cards
When a player's fighter is defeated in Battle Mode, that player must add two dread cards to their deck. Dread cards are essentially "dead" cards in your deck that represent your groups' fractured cohesion caused by a lost fighter.
As described on the dread card itself, players can either play them from their hand with no effect or spend an activated fighter's action to return the dread card to the dread pile.
Graveyard and Healing
When a fighter is dealt damage, a card belonging to that fighter is placed off to the side of a player's play area known as the graveyard. Fighter cards in the graveyard are essentially out of the game. A fighter card in the graveyard can be returned to that fighter's supply through certain game effects and healing.
When a fighter is healed, the controlling player may move one of that fighter's cards from their graveyard to their discard pile. A defeated fighter cannot be healed.
Opportunity Attacks
If the active fighter moves out of an area containing one or more ready enemy fighters, each of those ready enemy fighters may perform an opportunity attack in the form of a free Melee attack. If there are multiple ready enemy fighters in that area, the player controlling those fighters may choose the order in which these fighters perform their opportunity attacks.
An opportunity attack allows a fighter to perform a free Melee action outside of a normal activation. An opportunity attack is resolved following the normal attack steps. A stunned fighter cannot perform an opportunity attack.
If the active fighter is damaged and stunned by an opportunity attack, it finishes its current Move action and then stops—if the Move action was part of a special action that had other effects to resolve, those effects are not resolved.
Withdraw
Some abilities allow figures to withdraw, which allows the figure to move into an adjacent area—this is not a Move action and does not trigger opportunity attacks. Withdraw represents fighters fleeing or sneaking away from combat, avoiding enemy attacks.
Scenarios
After learning the basic rules, players should try playing the other scenarios. Each scenario has a corresponding scenario sheet included in the game that lists any special setup, special rules, and the goal for that particular scenario. During setup, players should agree on which scenario to play and place the scenario sheet near the board so both players can reference it during the game.
General Keywords
- Heal: When a fighter is healed the controlling player may move 1 of that fighter's cards from their graveyard to their discard pile. A defeated fighter cannot be healed. When a hero is healed, the controlling player may move any 1 card from their graveyard to their discard pile.
- Resilient (Battle Mode): Any fighter with the Resilient keyword does not get removed when damaged or does not lose cards. A Resilient fighter still becomes stunned when damaged. However, when a stunned Resilient fighter would be activated, they are no longer stunned but do not perform their activation as normal.
- Vampire: Each time a fighter with this keyword damages an enemy with a Melee action it gains 1 sated token; the fighter is now sated. Each time a sated fighter suffers damage they lose their sated token; the fighter is no longer sated. While sated, a fighter rolls the vampire die each time they attack or defend (in addition to their normal dice). Apply the results of the vampire die to the attack or defense:
- [DRAIN ESSENCE]: If a Vampire fighter rolls this result during a Melee action in which they damage their target, that fighter may Heal.
- [HIT]/[BLOCK]: Add these results to the attack/defense as normal.
Raid Mode
In raid mode, one to four heroes cooperatively take on a dangerous villain. Raid mode utilizes most of the standard rules from Battle Mode but uses specific components and rules exceptions as noted in this section.
It is recommended that players familiarize themselves with the Battle Mode rules presented earlier in this rulebook, as most of the rules and exceptions presented in Raid Mode build on the Battle Mode rules.
Raid Mode Components
[VISUAL BREAKDOWN OF HERO CARDS, CLASS CARDS, VILLAIN CARDS & HERO CLASS BOARDS]
Source note: the raid mode component breakdown is a placeholder in the playtest document. The image pages that follow it (hero cards, class cards, villain reference card) are image-only and are not transcribed.
Raid Mode Setup
To set up Raid Mode, players perform the following steps in order:
- Choose Scenario: Players mutually decide on a Raid Mode scenario to play by selecting the corresponding scenario sheet. For your first game (and for the purposes of these rules) it is assumed the players have chosen the "Into the Darkwood" scenario.
- Place Game Board: Unfold the game board corresponding to your chosen scenario and place it in the center of the play area with the appropriate side faceup. For your first game, this will be the "Darkwood" side of the board.
- Choose Heroes & Classes: Each player selects a hero to play as, collecting that hero's Reference card, 5 fighter cards, and fighter token. Then, each player also chooses a hero class for their hero to assume, collecting the corresponding hero class board and 20 class cards. Players create their play area by performing the following in order: a. Place your hero class board in the center of your play area, placing your hero Reference card nearby. b. Create your personal supply by placing your 5 hero cards and each stack of your hero class cards near your hero class board—each stack should include 5 copies of a single class card. c. Create your starting deck by shuffling 2 copies of each of your hero class cards and 2 copies of your hero card, creating a starting deck of 10 cards. Place this deck near your class board, leaving room for a discard pile. d. Leave room for a damage pile near your play area.
- Choose Villain & Faction: The players mutually decide on a villain to fight, collecting that villain's fighter token and villain deck. Then, players mutually choose a faction for that villain to lead (for this demo kit, choose the Grievers), collecting that faction's board (flipped to its "Raid Mode" side) 20 minion fighter tokens, and 5 objectives. Create the enemy play area by performing the following steps in order: a. Place the faction board within easy reach of the players. Create the minion supply by placing the 20 minion tokens corresponding to the chosen faction in the minion bag. b. Remove the villain Reference card from the villain deck and place it near the faction board. Shuffle the villain deck and place it facedown near the Reference card, leaving room for a discard pile.
Players are now ready to play the game!
[IMAGE OF RAID MODE SET UP]
Source note: the raid mode setup image is image-only and is not transcribed.
How to Play Raid Mode
Raid Mode is played over the course of several game rounds until the players either win by completing the goal of the chosen scenario or lose when a hero is defeated or the enemies claim their third objective. In the "Into the Darkwood" scenario, players win by defeating the villain. The game immediately ends when one of the following occurs:
- The heroes win—the players complete the Hero Goal of the chosen scenario.
- The heroes lose—the villain completes the Villain Goal of the chosen scenario, a hero dies, or no cards remain in the villain deck when a villain card must be drawn.
The Game Round
A game round consists of each player taking a turn consisting of the following phases:
- Heroes Act Phase: Each player draws 4 cards from their deck and then heroes perform actions (in any order) until each player has played at least 2 cards in their action row.
- Enemies Act Phase: The players draw and resolve a villain card; each hero activates or spawns 1 minion of the indicated color and the players activate the villain.
- Heroes React Phase: Players may play any remaining cards from their hand to perform additional actions.
- Enemies React Phase: The players draw and resolve a 2nd villain card, placing it next to the one drawn during the Enemies Act phase. Each hero activates or spawns 1 minion of the indicated color and then the players activate the villain. Then, each player discards any cards remaining in their hand, each card in their action row, and all cards in the villain action row to prepare for the next round.
Action Row
During a game round, players will play cards in their play area to perform actions with their hero. These cards should be kept in a row called the "action row" for easy reference.
When all heroes have completed playing cards from their hand, the round ends and a new round begins. Players continue resolving rounds until they either win (by completing the scenario goal) or lose (a hero is defeated, no cards remain in the villain deck when a villain card must be drawn, or the enemy claims their third objective).
Hero Stats & Modifiers
Players might notice that heroes have much lower stats than other fighters. This is because their stats fluctuate during a given game turn. Hero Reference cards provide a hero fighter with its base stats, while their hero fighter cards modify these stats over the course of a game round.
Each faceup card in a player's action row applies its stat modifiers to the hero's base stats (for better or worse). Facedown cards in action rows do not provide their modifiers.
Regardless of a stat's modifiers, no stat may be reduced to less than "0." If a stat would be reduced to less than "0," it is considered "0" instead.
If a fighter has a stat value of "—" then that fighter cannot roll dice for any effects (including attacks or defense) associated to that value and cannot apply any values to that modifier; the value is permanently treated like a "0."
Hero Act Phase
When the Heroes Act phase begins, each player draws four cards from their deck.
During the Heroes Act and Heroes React phases of the game round, players have the chance to perform various hero actions. Players may perform actions in any order, and a single hero does not have to complete all of their actions before another hero acts. However, each action must be fully resolved before another hero performs an action.
During the hero act phase, a hero with at least two cards in their action row cannot perform any more actions that phase.
At any time after an action is resolved, if each player has at least two cards in their action row, the Hero Act phase ends and the Enemies Act phase initiates.
To perform a hero action, the controlling player must play one card from their hand. Cards played this way should be kept in a player's play area until the end of the round.
The card may be played faceup or facedown. When a card is played faceup, the controlling player may either perform a single action printed on that card (as indicated by the "➤ Name of Special Action" text) or perform no action at all.
When a card is played facedown, the controlling player may either perform no action at all or perform a single basic action:
- Move: The active hero may move into an adjacent area. If the active fighter is leaving an area containing 1 or more enemy fighters, each enemy fighter first resolves an opportunity attack (see "Opportunity Attacks" on page XX) before the active hero resolves its move. Some abilities allow a hero to withdraw, which is different than a Move action (see "Withdraw" on page XX).
- Melee: The active hero may resolve a melee attack (see "Attacks" on page XX) targeting an enemy in their area.
- Shoot: The active hero may resolve a shoot attack (see "Attacks" on page XX) targeting an enemy they can see. A hero may only perform a Shoot action if there are no enemies in their area.
- Rest: If there are no enemies in the active hero's area they may Heal.
- Interact: Some scenario sheets have a special ➤ Interact action that may be performed by certain fighters. These special actions are detailed on the scenario sheet.
Gaining Cards
Each time a hero defeats an enemy in Raid Mode, they may gain one card.
When a hero gains a card in Raid Mode, they may gain any card from their supply, unless an effect restricts their choices.
Boost
Players, at any time during an action or enemy activation (before dice are rolled), may choose to boost their hero's stats by playing 1 or more cards from their hand faceup in their action row. This is called a boost.
A boost does not allow the hero to perform an action, but that hero may still apply the modifiers of the played card to their stats (along with any other faceup card in their action row).
Note that while boosting can be invaluable during the Heroes Act phase (before the villain gains any modifiers to their stats), it also reduces the number of potential actions you can perform later in the round.
Exert
Once during their Hero Act Phase and once during their Hero React Phase, each hero may exert. When a hero exerts, they suffer a damage (lose a card from the top of their deck) to perform a Move action; this Move action is in addition to any other action that hero performs during the phase. Exerting is entirely optional.
Enemies Act Phase
During the Enemies Act phase and Enemies React phase, the enemies activate. Players begin activating enemies by drawing a villain card and placing it faceup in the enemy play area, creating the villain's action row. Each card in the villain's action row contributes its modifiers to the villain's base stats during that round.
[VILLAIN CARD BREAKDOWN]
Source note: the villain card breakdown is an image-only page in the playtest document and is not transcribed.
To resolve enemy activation, players first activate minions according to the Minion Activation icon on the card most recently added to the villain's action row. The order of activation begins with the hero that most recently resolved their action, and proceeding clockwise around the table; this is referred to as the activation order.
One at a time in activation order, each hero activates the minion nearest them of the color indicated by the minion act icon; each minion activated this way may only be activated once during this phase. Each hero that cannot activate a minion must spawn a random minion (see "Spawning Minions" below).
After each minion activates, the villain activates in the same manner as the minions, but gaining the villain ability on the villain card most recently added to the villain's action row.
Spawning Minions
When a hero spawns a minion, that hero draws a random minion from the supply and places it in the area with the objective matching the color of the drawn minion—if that objective is not in play, the minion is spawned in the villain's area instead.
A minion may be activated in the same phase it is spawned.
Ties
When activating enemies, there will be occasions where players must make a choice between several viable options on behalf of the activating enemy. Players should mutually make a decision on how to resolve these situations.
For added difficulty, players can choose the option that most benefits the enemy and most harms the heroes.
Activating Minions
When a minion activates, players refer to the faction board which lists the actions the minion will attempt to perform. When activated, a minion will perform one of its actions; minion actions may contain one or more basic actions presented in bold text. A minion will attempt to perform each of its actions in order, from top to bottom, completing its activation after it successfully performs an action.
Enemy Activation Clarifications
An enemy with a "0" Melee stat will not attempt to perform a Melee action. Similarly, an enemy with a "0" Shoot stat will not attempt to perform a Shoot action. If an enemy has a "★" for its Melee or Shoot stat, it corresponds to a special ability when that enemy would perform the corresponding type of attack.
"And"
Enemy actions that have multiple effects separated by "and" allow the enemy to perform both effects, in order. The effects are not dependent on each other in the same way effects separated by "then" (see below) are, meaning if the enemy can perform either or all of the effects, it will, attempting them in the order presented in the action text.
"Or"
Enemy actions sometimes have two effects separated by "or." In these cases, the enemy will attempt to one effect, prioritizing the first one preceding the "or."
"Then"
Enemy actions that have multiple effects often have "then" between effects. In these cases, the effect preceding "then" is required for the following effect to occur. If an enemy cannot resolve the effect preceding "then," the rest of the effect is ignored as well. However, if an enemy resolves the effect preceding "then" and cannot resolve the rest of the effect, it will resolve as much of the effect as it can.
Control
Unlike Battle Mode, when an enemy performs a Control action in Raid Mode, they attempt to claim one of their objectives in their area. If one or more heroes are in the enemy's area, that enemy will not perform the Control action.
Activating the Villain
After minions activate, the villain will activate. When the villain activates, they perform one of the actions on the villain card most recently added to the villain action row; villain actions may contain one or more basic actions presented in bold text. The villain will attempt to perform each of its actions in order, from top to bottom, completing its activation after it successfully performs an action.
Enemy Movement Priority
During their Move actions, villains and minions move differently.
Unless otherwise specified, when a minion performs a Move action, they move toward the hero nearest them; if multiple paths exist between the moving minion and the nearest hero, the enemy will prioritize a destination area that allows them to see the most heroes. If multiple heroes are within equidistance of a minion, they will prioritize the hero that has suffered the most damage.
Unless otherwise specified, when a villain performs a Move action, they move toward the objective nearest them; if multiple paths exist between a moving villain and the nearest objective, the villain will prioritize a destination area that allows them to see a hero. If multiple objectives are within equidistance of a villain, they will prioritize the objective that brings them nearer to a hero.
If no objectives are in play, the villain prioritizes the hero nearest them (similar to minions).
When an effect instructs an enemy to move toward a position it is already in, that enemy will not resolve the move effect.
Enemy Withdraw
When minions withdraw, they always move toward the villain, avoiding areas with heroes if possible. When the villain withdraws, it moves toward the objective nearest it.
Enemy Attack Priority
When there are multiple valid targets during an enemy attack, the enemy will target the hero that has the most cards in their action row containing damage icons that match the attack enemy's type; in case of a tie, players mutually decide which viable target becomes the target of the attack.
Damage & Healing in Raid Mode
Unless otherwise specified, fighters never become stunned in Raid Mode.
When a hero suffers damage, they must lose a card with a damage icon matching the enemy rank that damaged them. Losing cards in Raid Mode works in the same way as Battle Mode (searching their hand, then their deck, then their discard pile for the correct card), treating a hero's damage pile as their graveyard. Heroes may not lose cards from their action row.
If a hero suffers damage from an unranked enemy or any effect that is not an enemy attack, they lose the top card of their deck.
If a damaged hero is not able to lose the required card, they are immediately defeated.
When a minion suffers damage it is removed from the board and returned to the supply.
When a villain suffers damage, 1 wound is placed on the villain Reference card. If a villain suffers wounds equal to its health value, it is immediately defeated. Villains typically have scaling health per player, represented by "XP" where "X" is the value to be multiplied by "P" (the number of players in the game).
When a hero heals, they choose a card in their damage pile to place in their discard pile.
When a villain heals, it discards 1 wound token from its villain Reference card.
If an effect would cause a minion to heal, instead place 1 minion of that rank from the supply in the healed minion's area.
Claiming Objectives
Enemies claim objectives through the Control action. In addition, a villain will claim an objective in their area after it attacks and successfully damages a hero in that same area. When an objective is claimed it is placed in the enemy play area.
Heroes React Phase
After resolving the villain's activation during the Enemies Act phase, the heroes may finish resolving any remaining actions by playing cards into their action rows in the same manner as during the Heroes Act phase. Once heroes finish resolving actions—either from running out of cards in their hand, or by choice—play continues to the Enemies React phase.
Enemies React Phase
Players resolve the Enemies React phase in the same manner as the Enemies Act phase, making sure to account for the villain modifiers in the villain's action row.
After resolving all enemy activations, players discard any cards they have remaining in their hands, each card in their action row, and then each card in the villain action row. Players are now ready to start a new game round.
Additional Raid Mode Rules
Enemy Healing
If any effect would ever cause a minion to heal, instead one minion of that same rank is placed in the healed minion's area. When a villain heals, it discards one wound token from its Reference card.
Losing Cards
When a hero loses a card, it is placed in their damage pile (similar to damage).
Tokens in the Action Row
Some effects may put tokens on cards in action rows. Whenever a card is discarded from the action row, each token on that card is discarded as well.
Fighter Status
In Raid Mode, fighters do not become stunned, unless an effect explicitly calls for it. When a figure is stunned, it retains any other conditions or tokens, unless otherwise specified.