Eiyo
Eiyo Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
About
Eiyo is a fast paced game where you need to strategically manage your weapons to defeat hordes of oncoming enemies. You will need to survive their attacks while also gaining honor points that will be crucial for emerging victorious once the game has ended.
Components
- 32 Standard Weapon cards
- 4 Special Weapon cards (2 for the Solo Mode and all 4 for the Coop Mode)
- 36 Enemy cards
- 4 Deflect tokens
- 4 Yamabushi cards (only used with "Path of the Warrior" variant)
- 6 Boss cards
- 2 Samurai Meeples (for the Coop Mode)
Setup
- Shuffle the 32 standard weapon cards into a face down deck. This will be your weapon deck. Leave the special weapon cards to the side for now.
- Shuffle the 36 enemy cards and then split them up into 4 equal sized face-down decks. Place them according to the example above.
- Shuffle the 6 boss cards and, without looking, randomly remove 2 and place them into the box. Next, place one boss card face-down into each of the 4 enemy decks. Do this by placing 3 cards from each deck face-down on the table, then place one boss card on top of them, and finally place the rest of the cards for each deck on top of the boss card. In this way, each enemy deck will have one boss card which is in the 4th to last position.
- Reveal the first 3 cards from each enemy deck and lay them according to the image above so that each subsequent card mostly overlaps the previously drawn card. Ensure that all numbers and icons on the right side of each enemy card are visible. These sets of 3 cards are the attack row for the deck they were drawn from.
- Place all 4 deflect tokens as well as 2 of the special weapons nearby. Any excess special weapon cards will not be used in the solo game.
- Draw 4 cards from the top of your weapon deck and add them to your hand. If you don't like your initial 4 cards, you may shuffle them all back into the weapon deck and draw 4 more. This optional redraw happens exclusively during setup and can only be performed once.
Game Flow
During each round you will be defeating or deflecting incoming enemies by discarding weapon cards from your hand. Each option will eliminate one enemy from the game, but only those that are defeated will gain you honor points. After this, all remaining enemies will attack and the damage they inflict will discard weapon cards from your deck. You will only emerge victorious if you've made it through all of the enemies and you've gained at least 40 honor points. If you go through your weapon deck 3 times before this happens then you lose the game.
Round Structure
Each round is split into a samurai phase and an enemy phase. They are always performed in that order and after finishing the enemy phase you proceed with a new round unless the game has come to an end. See Ending The Game section to learn about how the game ends.
Samurai Phase
In this phase you must first draw cards and then spend cards to fight your oncoming enemies.
Draw Step
Draw 4 cards from the weapon deck into your hand. If you now have more than 6 cards in your hand then discard weapons until only 6 cards remain. If there are not enough weapons in the deck to draw your full amount, then follow the procedure described in the Out Of Weapons section. After this you must continue to draw until you have taken 4 new cards total.
Note: Skip this draw step during the first round of the game.
Fight Step
Play weapon cards into your discard pile and perform an action with each before playing another weapon. You may play as many cards as you like during this step. Each played card will target one attack row and will then either deflect that entire row or defeat one enemy card.
Targeting an Attack Row
Each weapon card has target icons shown in the top corners which indicate its valid targets. Each red dot in the target icon indicates an attack row from that perspective that the weapon can target.
Concentration Special Action
With each weapon card played, you may perform a concentration special action to rotate it in order to change the attack rows it can target. You may rotate the weapon 90 degrees clockwise by discarding the top weapon card from your deck into your discard pile. You may do this up to 3 times, discarding a weapon card with each rotation.
Defeat an Enemy
Remove the left-most enemy from one attack row that the played weapon card can target. Place this enemy into a face-up pile next to you. This will be your honor stack, and all enemies in it will give you honor points as shown in the bottom right corner of their card. You may look through this stack at any time.
Deflect an Attack Row
Place one deflect token onto the left-most enemy of an attack row that the played weapon card can target. This will stop all damage from this row in the upcoming Enemy Phase.
Enemy Phase
Once you have decided to stop playing weapon cards, it will then be time for the Enemy Phase. Each non-deflected enemy will now attack you and potentially deal damage.
Counting Damage
Each attack row that does not have a deflect token on its left-most card will now attack. Every card will deal damage equal to the number associated with the enemy's current position in the row. The left-most enemy is considered to be in the first position.
Taking Damage
Once you have counted the amount of damage you are being dealt, you must then discard that number of cards from the top of your weapon deck. If there are not enough cards in the deck then follow the procedure described in the Out Of Weapons section and then continue discarding until the full amount of damage has been dealt.
Resolving Deflect Tokens
For each attack row with a deflect token you must return the token to your supply and then remove the left-most enemy card and place it face-down off to the side. All future deflected enemies will be placed here and this will be referred to as your deflected stack. You will not gain any honor points listed on cards in this stack.
Refilling Attack Rows
If any attack row now has zero enemy cards then draw 3 more from the top of its deck in the same manner described during setup step #4.
Exception: If a boss card is revealed, then continue to reveal enemies until the deck is empty. In this case there should now be 4 enemies in that attack row with the boss in the 4th position.
Out of Weapons
If you ever need to draw a weapon card but your weapon deck is gone, you must perform one of the following procedures depending on how many special weapon cards are on the table near you.
Note: Special weapons in your hand or discard pile at this point are ignored for this procedure.
2 Special Weapons Left
Draw one special weapon card from the table and place it into your hand. Shuffle your weapon discard pile and place it face-down to create a new draw deck.
1 Special Weapon Left
Draw one special weapon card from the table and place it into your hand. Shuffle your weapon discard pile and place it to the side. You must now pay honor points to create a new draw deck. This is done by choosing any number of enemies from anywhere in your honor stack and placing them into your deflected stack. For every honor point showing on the removed enemy cards you will take one card from the shuffled weapon stack and add it to a new draw deck. Once you have decided to stop spending honor points, remove the remaining weapon cards from the game and place your new draw deck in front of you.
0 Special Weapons Left
You immediately lose the game.
Bosses
Bosses are powerful enemies that change the attack row length as well as add challenging effects. Once a boss is placed into an attack row you must keep drawing until there are 4 cards in that row instead of the normal 3.
Each boss has an effect that is shown in a banner on the right side of that card. Each effect is described below:
The noble lady: Once this card is revealed, immediately draw 3 random enemies from the deflected stack. These should be shuffled and placed face-down underneath the enemy deck associated with this attack row. Continue filling the attack row until 4 enemies are showing. Once this attack row is completely cleared, it will be refilled as normal. Note: There are 2 copies of this card so both could appear in the same game.
Kanobo: Active as long as it's in an attack row. Before each samurai phase you must discard 2 cards from the top of your weapon deck. Note: There are 2 copies of this card so both could appear in the same game.
Teppo: Active as long as it's in an attack row. You cannot place a deflect token onto the attack row where this boss is located.
Hatamoto: Active as long as it's in an attack row. Before each samurai phase you must remove one enemy from your honor stack and place it into the deflected stack. You may choose the card to be removed and it may come from anywhere in your honor stack.
Ending the Game
At any point during the game if either of the following conditions are met then the game ends immediately:
You need to draw a weapon card but the deck is gone and there are no more special weapon cards in front of you. In this case you are overwhelmed by enemies and you lose the game.
All enemy cards are in the deflected or honor stacks. You must now count all the honor points showing on cards in your honor stack. If you have less than 40 honor points then you survive the battle but lose the game. Otherwise, you win the game and gain the following rank depending on how many honor points you gained:
- 40 - 44 honor points: Warrior
- 45 - 49 honor points: Samurai
- 50+ honor points: Hero of the Empire!
Path of the Warrior - Advanced Game Variant
In order to have a more challenging experience you can add mini-bosses into each enemy deck which bring their own powerful effects.
Setup Modification
Before setup step #2, add the 4 Yamabushi cards to the enemy deck and then shuffle it. Then remove from the game 4 cards from the top of this deck before proceeding with step #2.
The Yamabushi enemies have the following effects while they are in an attack row:
You cannot perform the concentration special action.
When deflecting, you must discard 2 weapons instead of 1. Only one of these two cards is used for targeting an attack row.
When deflecting, you must remove one enemy from your honor stack and place it into the deflected stack. Any card in the honor stack may be removed.
Credits
Game Design: Francesco Testini
Illustrator: Cinyee Chiu
Publisher: ThunderGryph Games
PM and Art Direction: Gonzalo Aguirre Bisi
Game Editor: Pierpaolo Paoletti
Rulebook Author: Jonathan Cox
Rules Proofing: Cristina Aguirre Bisi
Graphic Design: Daniel Tosco, Karen Poon & Luis Francisco
Mockups: Erick Tosco
Thanks to the Support of: Cristina Bisi and Luis González