Fantasy Dice Battles Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• Components
  • Unit Tiles and Order Cards Breakdown
• The Playing Area
• Set Up
• Game Sequence
• Step 1: Place Order Cards Face Down
• Step 2: Send Reinforcements
• Step 3: Turn Over Order Cards and Activate Them
  • Activating Cards on Active Battalions
  • Powers Descriptions
  • Regrouping Fleeing Units
  • Regrouping Idle Units
• Step 4: Roll Attack Dice and Assign Wounds
  • Apply Poison
  • Attack Examples
• Step 5: Check Defeated Units
• Step 6: Discard Played Cards and Draw Until Seven
• End of the Game

Objective

Fantasy Dice Battles is a customizable boardgame where each player commands an army in a fierce battle against opponent.

Armies are composed of three battalions of five units and a Hero. The objective of the game is to defeat the opponent's heroes, but first the player needs to defeat the units protecting the heroes.

On each round the players place face down an Order Card on each battalion, trying anticipate the card placed by opponent on his battalion (if the player thinks the opponent is going to place a cavalry card he can place a halberds card to counter the cavalry).

The Order Cards allow the players rolling attack dice that will be assigned to opponent's units as wounds, when units have a certain number of wounds flee from the battalion. The player must manage his Units Fleeing, regrouping them before they leave the battlefield.

The game can be played with predefined armies or the players can customize their own armies as explained at the end of the rules.

Components

• Several dice on three colours.
• Board.
• For each faction: 41 unit tiles and 41 Order Cards.

Unit Tiles and Order Cards Breakdown

Unit Tiles represent the player's troops and are placed on the battalion spaces:

• Picture: Picture of the unit.
• Positions: Battalion's positions where the unit tile can be placed (shown in white colour).
• Morale: Wounds assigned to an unit are placed over its Morale Squares, when all morale squares are covered by wounds the unit flees from the battalion.
• Armour: Protects the unit from attack dice.
  • Normal: Blocks yellow and green dice.
  • Golden: Blocks all dice colours.

Order Cards represent the "attacking orders" that the player gives to his battalions, they can be used also as "regrouping orders" when played in some places:

• Picture: Order Cards played on a battalion can be activated if there is at least one Unit Tile on that battalion with the same picture as the card played.
• Attack: Number and colour of the dice to be rolled on the attacks. There are three types of attack:
  • Normal (yellow dice).
  • Poisoned (green dice).
  • Crushing (red dice).
• Class: Represents the class of the attacking units. Defensive Powers work only versus opponent's cards with an specific class. The classes are:
  • Infantry.
  • Cavalry.
  • Projectiles.
  • Special.
• Powers: Some cards have special abilities that are activated when the Order Card is played on an active battalion. There are three kinds of Powers:
  • Offensive: Adds Attack Dice to player's card.
  • Defensive: Removes Attack Dice from opponent's card.

The Playing Area

On each player area there are three places for his battalions (first, second and third battalions), each battalion is composed of six spaces to place the Unit Tiles in an inverted triangle shape with the hero on the bottom as shown on the figure.

The Opponent's battalions are placed in front of player's ones so each battalion fights only with the battalion in front of it.

Next to each battalion there is an space for the Battalion Orders where the player place the Order Card that he wants to play on that battalion.

On the right side of the battalions there are three spaces for the Fleeing Units where the player places the unit tiles removed from his battalions. And another three spaces for the Reinforcement, where the player places the units tiles that can be sent to his battalions.

Between both zones there is an space for the Regrouping Order where the player can place an Order Card so he can move unit tiles from Units Fleeing to Reinforcements.

On the left side of the battalions there are two spaces for the Deck Pile and the Discard Pile.

Set Up

First the player must choose a predefined army or customize his own army as explained at the end of the rules, then he takes Unit Tiles and places them on his Battalions and Reinforcements spaces as shown on his army sheet.

Gap in source: the customization rules referred to above are not included in this PDF, and the army sheets are not reproduced in its text.

For each placed Unit Tile the player takes also its Order Card, then he shuffles all the cards together and places them on the Deck Pile.

Each player draws seven cards from his deck pile and the game can start.

Game Sequence

The game is played on several rounds until a player defeats two enemy Heroes. Each round has several steps:

1. Place Order Cards face down.
2. Send Reinforcements.
3. Turn over Order Cards and activate them.
4. Roll attack dice and assign wounds.
5. Check defeated units.
6. Discard played cards and draw until seven.

Step 1: Place Order Cards Face Down

At the same time, players place face down one Order Card from their hands on each Battalion Order space of their battalions.

It's mandatory to place Order Cards on the battalions where the player's hero and the opponent's hero are still on the board.

It's optional on battalions where the player's hero or the opponent's hero have been defeated. Players can do it in order to discard an Order Card and draw a new one (at the end of the round) or regroup idle units from battalions who have defeated the opponent's hero.

In addition, players have the option to play an Order Card on the Regrouping Orders, this allows them to regroup his Units Fleeing.

A player who has finished placing his cards must say "READY". When both players have finished the game continues on next step.

Example: the player places two Order Cards face down on the first and the third battalion and none on the second battalion because his hero has been defeated and doesn't want to discard any card; additionally he decides to play another card on Regrouping Order.

Step 2: Send Reinforcements

Along the game the units on the battalions flee leaving empty spaces that allows the opponent to attack the units behind.

If a player has some Unit Tiles on his Reinforcements, he can move them to those empty spaces following next rules:

• Only one Unit Tile can be moved to each battalion.
• An Unit Tile can only be move to the positions shown on its top-left corner.

The last player to say "READY" on previous step sends his Reinforcements first. This gives the other player the advantage of seeing the opponent's reinforcements before sending his own.

Example: the player wants to send reinforcements to the empty spaces on both battalions, but he can only send one unit to the first battalion because the empty position on the second battalion is not legal for the Elite Warriors. (They can only be placed on the second row or on the center position of the first row.)

Step 3: Turn Over Order Cards and Activate Them

Players turn over their played Order Cards simultaneously. When a player turns over a card he must check if the card can be activated, any card that cannot be activated must be sent to the Discard Pile. Card Activation follows next rules:

• On active battalions (both heroes still on the board), the cards can be activated if there are at least one Unit Tile on the battalion with the same picture than the card. If the card played was a Hero, the player can check on the adjacent battalions too. When the card is activated allows the player to roll Attack Dice or heal his units as explained on "Activating cards on active battalions".
• On idle battalions (opponent's hero has been defeated), the card can be activated only if it is a Hero Order Card. When the card is activated allows the player to regroup units on that battalion as explained on "Regrouping idle units".
• On defeated battalions (player's hero has been defeated), the cards cannot be activated and are sent to the Discard Pile.
• On regrouping orders, the card always can be activated. When the card is activated allows the player to regroup the fleeing units as explained on "Regrouping fleeing units".

After checking the cards that can be activated (and discard the other cards), the players must activate each card as explained on next sections.

Examples (from the rulebook's illustrations):

• "Swordmen Card" can be activated because there are two Swordmen Unit Tiles on the battalion.
• "Horsemen Hero Card" can be activated too; there isn't any Horsemen Hero Unit Tile on the battalion, but as it's a Hero card he checks on adjacent battalions too and the Horsemen Hero Tile is on the third battalion.
• "Horsemen Card" cannot be activated and must be sent to the Discard Pile because there isn't any Horsemen Unit Tiles on the battalion.

Activating Cards on Active Battalions

When an Order Card is activated on an active battalion, the player places on the card the Attack Dice to roll on the attack and then activates the card's Support Powers.

The dice to be placed on the card must be of the colour shown on the card's Attack (top-right corner). Players don't place any dice on cards without attack. The number of dice to be placed is calculated as follows:

1. Add as many dice as the number shown on the Attack of the card.
2. If there are more than one unit on the battalion matching the card played, add one more die.
3. If player's card has an Offensive Power and its activation condition is fulfilled (see powers description), add as many dice as shown on bottom of the Power or as explained on the powers description.
4. If opponent's card (on opposite battalion) has a Defensive Power and the Class of player's card matches some of the classes shown inside, remove as many dice as shown on bottom of the Power.

After calculating the number of dice, the player activates the Support Powers on his card as explained in Powers Descriptions. Those special powers have several effects such as healing units, nullifying opponent's powers or modifying some rules.

Example: the Empire's player activates a Catapult card (there is a Catapult Unit Tile on the battalion). The player places first the 3 red dice shown on the card. The Fear Power on the Catapult card allows the player to place one more die. The Catapult card ends with 4 red dice to be rolled.

Example: the Orcs' player activates an Orc Warriors card (there are two Orc Warriors Unit Tiles on the battalion). The player places first the 2 yellow dice shown on the card. As there are two Orc Warriors units on the battalion the player adds an additional die. The Goblin Support Power allows the player to add one more die because there is a Goblin unit on the battalion too. At last the player checks the Defensive Powers of the opponent's card. The Catapult Defensive Power removes one die from Infantry and Cavalry cards. So the player removes one of the dice placed because the Orc Warriors card is an Infantry card. The Orc Warriors card ends with 3 yellow dice to be rolled.

Powers Descriptions

Offensive Powers

• FEAR: Add one die if the opponent's Card doesn't have the "NO FEAR" Power.
• GOBLIN SUPPORT: Add one die if there is some Goblin unit (not Archers) on the player's battalion.
• GOBLINS FRENZY: Add one die for each player's Goblin unit (not Archers) on the board (battalions, reinforcements or fleeing units zones).

Defensive Powers

• CLOSE COMBAT DEFENCE: Opponent rolls two less dice if his card class is INFANTRY or CAVALRY.
• CAVALRY DEFENCE: Opponent rolls two less dice if his card class is CAVALRY.
• FULL DEFENCE: Opponent rolls two less dice no matter his card class.

Support Powers

• HEAL: Remove one wound die (placed over a morale square) from all units on the battalion.
• ANTIDOTE: Remove the poison dice (only dice that haven't been placed on a morale square yet) from all units on the battalion.
• GLOBAL HEAL: Remove one wound die (placed over a morale square) from all units on all player's battalions.
• PRECISION ATTACK: Ignore the arrows printed on empty spaces on battalions when assigning the dice.
• NO FEAR: Cancels Fear Power on opponent's card.

Regrouping Fleeing Units

If the player plays an Order Card on Regrouping Orders, he can regroup the fleeing units.

For each Regrouped Unit shown on the bottom of played Order Card, the player moves one unit on Fleeing Units zone (with the same picture) to the Reinforcements zone.

If there is no empty space on Reinforcements zone, the regrouping is cancelled.

Regrouping Idle Units

When a battalion has defeated the opponent's hero, the victorious units remain on the battalion (they are chasing fleeing enemy troops) but the player can play on that battalion a Hero Order Card to regroup those units.

Only Hero Order Cards can be used, the other cards are discarded without any effect.

For each Regrouped Unit shown on the bottom of played Order Card, the player moves one unit on the battalion (with the same picture) to the Reinforcements zone.

If there is no empty space on Reinforcements zone, the regrouping is cancelled.

Examples (from the rulebook's illustrations): a Swordmen Card allows the player to move one fleeing Swordmen Unit Tile to Reinforcements; a Healers Card allows the player to move a Swordmen Unit Tile and a Halberds Unit Tile to Reinforcements; a Swordmen Hero Card allows the player to move one Swordmen Unit Tile from the battalion to Reinforcements.

Step 4: Roll Attack Dice and Assign Wounds

Apply Poison

Before rolling any dice, the players must move all Poison dice (not placed yet over a morale square) on their unit tiles to an empty Morale Square.

Players roll together all the Attack Dice that were placed over each of their Order Cards (one card each time).

After rolling the dice, the player must assign them to the opponent's Unit Tiles on opposite battalion. The six possible die results are shown on the board between the battalions of both players. Each Attack Die is assigned to the Front Row opponent's Unit Tile in front of the matching printed die result.

If there isn't a Front Row unit in front of the printed die (because the unit was defeated) the Attack Die is assigned to the unit behind (on Second Row) unless there is an arrow printed on the empty position in front of the matching printed die. If there is an arrow and there is also a unit on the position where the arrow is pointing, the die is assigned to that unit instead.

If the die must be assigned to a Unit Tile on the Second Row and there isn't anyone, the die is assigned to the Hero.

Example of the die-result board: 1's and 2's are assigned to left Swordmen; 3's and 4's to the centre Knight; 5's and 6's to the right Swordmen. For the Orcs: 1's are assigned to the Shaman Hero; 2's, 3's, 4's and 5's to the centre Goblin; 6's to the Shaman on the Second Row.

NOTE: The Precision Attack Power on Order Cards allows the player to ignore the printed arrows on the battalion where the card was played.

When an Attack Die is assigned to a Unit Tile, the die is placed over a Morale Square of that unit as a Wound.

Some units have an Armour that can protect them from one Attack Die each round (but not for all dice colours). The die blocked by the unit's Armour is placed over the Armour symbol of the unit and must follow next rules:

• Normal Armour versus Normal Dice (yellow) blocks the first Attack Die.
• Normal Armour versus Poisoned Dice (green) blocks the second Attack Die.
• Golden Armour versus all Dice Colours blocks the first Attack Die.

Poisoned Dice (green) work a little different: the first die to be placed over a Morale Square (after checking Armour) is placed instead on the centre of the Unit Tile as Poison. The Poison remains over the unit until the next round and then they are moved over Morale Squares (as explained at the beginning of this step). A Unit Tile can only have one die as Poison; the next dice assigned to the unit are placed over Morale Squares.

Attack Examples

Normal Attacks (yellow)

• On the left, all three yellow dice are placed over Morale Squares as wounds because the Unit Tile doesn't have any Armour.
• On the right, Normal Armour blocks the first yellow die but the second die is placed over a Morale Square as a wound.

Poisoned Attacks (green)

• On the left, the first green die is placed on the centre of the Unit as Poison, remaining dice are placed over Morale Squares as wounds.
• On the right, the first green die is placed also on the centre of the Unit as Poison, but the Normal Armour blocks the second green die. The third die is placed over a Morale Square as a wound.
• If the Unit has Golden Armour instead of Normal, the first die is blocked and the second die is placed as Poison.

Crushing Attacks (red)

• On the left, both red dice are placed over Morale Squares as wounds because the Normal Armour doesn't protect the Unit from red dice.
• On the right, Golden Armour blocks the first red die but the second die is placed over a Morale Square as a wound.

Step 5: Check Defeated Units

At the beginning of this step players must remove all dice placed over the units' Armour symbols.

Then players must check the units on their battalions (checking the Hero on last place). Any unit without an empty Morale Square flees from the battalion following the next rules:

• If the unit has 3 or less wounds (adding Poison die) it moves to the Units Fleeing zone.
• If the unit has 4 or more wounds (adding Poison die) it is removed from the game (the unit has been annihilated).
• Hero Unit Tiles are always removed from the game and remaining Units on their battalions move to the Units Fleeing zone.
• When there is only one active battalion (both heroes still on the board) all units without empty Morale Squares are removed from the game no matter the number of wounds.

When a Unit moves to the Units Fleeing zone it pushes the units already on that zone one space to the right. Any units pushed behind the third position flee from the battlefield and are removed from the game.

Examples: the Oak Warrior Unit Tile on the battalion has all its Morale Squares covered by wounds so it is sent to the first position of the Fleeing Units Zone, pushing all Units on that zone one position to the right. The Goblin on the last position is pushed out of the Fleeing Units zone and is removed from the game.

Step 6: Discard Played Cards and Draw Until Seven

All played cards are sent to the Discard Pile of each player and they draw cards from the Order Deck until they have a hand of seven cards. If the Order Deck gets exhausted the Discard Pile is shuffled and placed as a new Order Deck.

Then a new round starts for both players at Step 1.

End of the Game

If any player loses two or more Heroes the game ends, and the player with more remaining Heroes is the winner.

If both players have the same number of active Heroes at the end of the game it's a tie.