Flash Duel: Second Edition
Flash Duel: Second Edition Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Simple Mode (1 vs 1)
If this is your first game, start here. Simple mode doesn't use the character ability cards so you can focus on the basic rules. Scoring just one hit against the opponent wins the round. A game is best 3 out of 5 rounds.
Setup
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At the beginning of each round shuffle the 40 numbered cards, put them face-down on a pile on the table, set aside the top 5 cards without looking at them, then each player draws 5 cards. The 40 cards have 8 copies of each number from 1 to 5.
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Put your character on your Start space of the track.
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Flip a coin to determine who goes first. In later rounds, the loser of the previous round goes first.
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Set aside the 5 win tokens for now. Take a win token each time you win a round. The first player to win 3 rounds wins the game.
Choose exactly one "main action" on your turn
a) Move. Play any card from your hand to move your character that many spaces forward or backward. If you would move off the edge of the board, move to the last space instead. If you would move on or past the opponent, instead move up to them, then stop in the adjacent space.
b) Push. You can only push if you're adjacent to the opponent. Play a card to push the opponent back the number of spaces on the card. For example, if you push with a 4, the opponent moves back 4 spaces, you stay in place, and the opponent will end up 5 spaces away from you. If they would be pushed off the edge of the board, instead they're pushed only to their Start space.
c) Attack. To attack, play a card from your hand whose number is the exact number of spaces to the opponent. For example, if they are 5 spaces away and you want to attack, you can only attack with a 5. You can strengthen your attack by playing more cards of that number. If you are 5 spaces away, you could attack with two or more 5s for a more powerful attack.
d) Dashing Strike. To dashing strike, first play a card to dash toward the opponent, then immediately play another card as your strike. The strike must be the same number as the distance to the opponent after the dash. You can strengthen your strike by playing more cards of the same number. For example, if the opponent is 8 spaces away, you could dash with a 3 then play a pair of 5s as the strike.
Note: You can't dashing strike if you're already adjacent to the opponent.
Turn Structure
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Do one of these: move, push, attack, or dashing strike.
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If you did an attack or dashing strike, your opponent must respond or they lose the round.
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Discard any cards played this turn.
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Draw until you have 5 cards, then your turn ends. Your opponent takes their turn.
Surviving an attack or dashing strike
When you attack, your opponent must block or lose the round. When you dashing strike, your opponent must block or retreat (their choice) or lose the round.
To block an attack or dashing strike, the opponent must match your attack cards (or your strike cards in the case of a dashing strike) with the exact same cards of their own. For example, if you attack with a 3, they must play a 3 to block. If you attack with two 1s, they must play two 1s to block. If you dashing strike with a 2 as the dash and a 4 as the strike, they must play a 4 to block. They will then start their turn with fewer than 5 cards because players only draw at the end of their own turns.
To retreat from a dashing strike, your opponent can play any card from their hand to retreat that many spaces. For example, if they play a 2, they retreat 2 spaces. If they would retreat past the edge of the board, retreat to the last space instead. They cannot retreat at all if they're already at the edge of the board.
When an opponent retreats, they must recover on their next turn. They can't take any actions or play any abilities on a turn while they're recovering except to draw back to up to 5 cards.
Public Information
The discard pile is public information and either player can look through it at any time.
The number of cards left in the draw pile is also public information, and players can count how many cards remain any time.
Timeout
When the last card is drawn, time has run out. Whoever advanced the farthest on the board wins. If both players advanced the same distance, the round is a draw and both players get a win token for the round.
Full Game (1 vs 1)
If this is your first game, start here. Simple mode doesn't use the character ability cards so you can focus on the basic rules. Scoring just one hit against the opponent wins the round. A game is best 3 out of 5 rounds.
The Full Game has the same basic rules as the Simple Game, but each player chooses one of the 20 Fantasy Strike characters before the game starts.
Setup
Just like in the Simple Mode, shuffle the 40 numbered cards, set aside 5 of them without looking at them, then each player draws a hand of 5 cards. Repeat this process each round.
Characters & Abilities
After you pick your character, put your character's three special ability cards face up on the table. Each ability card lists its timing trigger in the wood-panel area of the card (Timing) and its effect in the larger canvas area below (Effect), under the card's ability name (Ability). The timing trigger tells you when that ability card is "lit up" and able to be played. When an ability's timing trigger happens, that means you can choose to play the ability — it doesn't happen automatically. If you do play the ability, flip the card face down to get its effect.
If you could use an ability at the same moment as your opponent could use one of theirs, the player whose turn it is acts first.
Special ability cards are public information and either player can read the other's ability cards whether they are face up or face down.
One Ability Per Turn, Replenish Each Round
You can only play one ability per turn. (You can play an ability on your turn, then a different one on the opponent's following turn if you like though.) At the start of each new round (not the start of each turn!), you flip your three ability cards face up to replenish them. You have to win a total of 3 rounds to win a game.
Timeout
If the round ends in timeout (last card drawn), no more abilities can be played and the player who advanced farthest wins the round. Both players get a win token if they tie.
Custom Clockwork Mode (1 vs 1)
Custom Clockwork Setup
In this mode you can build your own clockwork soldier by mixing abilities from any characters. First, choose 12 character abilities at random from the entire set of 60. You and your opponent will draft 4 abilities each from this pool of 12. Flip a coin to determine who will choose first. Choosing first is an advantage, so to offset that the second player chooses two abilities in a row. The complete order you choose abilities is: 12211221 (meaning player 1 chooses, then player 2, then player 2 again, then player 1, then player 1 again, and so on).
You each place your 4 ability cards face up on the table and the player who drafted the first ability also plays first.
One Ability Per Turn, Replenish Each Round
As usual, you can only play one ability per turn. As usual, when the round ends (not the turn!), you replenish all your abilities by flipping them face up. It still takes 3 round wins to win the game.
Tweak Your Clockwork Soldier
If you lose a round, you may switch one of your abilities with one of the 4 unused abilities from the pool if you want. This lets you adjust your clockwork soldier if things didn't go as planned. The winner of the previous round must keep the same abilities for the next round.
Solo Game (1 player)
You can play Flash Duel by yourself against an automated opponent — a "bot." There are three bots to choose from: a dummy, Rook the Stone Golem, and Deathstrike Dragon!
Playing Solo is similar to the Full Game, except you play against an automated "bot." Like a human player, the bot starts with a hand of 5 cards and draws back up to 5 at the end of his turn. Since you make the bot's moves for him, his hand is always revealed to you. On each of his turns, the bot draws a card, then plays according to these rules, in order:
- The bot attacks if he can, and he always powers up the attack (with pairs, triples, etc.) as much as possible.
- If he is adjacent to an opponent, he pushes with the card he drew for the turn.
- If the bot can dashing strike using the card he drew as the dash and other card(s) from his hand as the strike, he does. The bot always powers up the strike as much as possible.
- Otherwise, he moves forward (never backward) with the card he drew.
On your turns, the bot plays according to these rules:
- Whenever you attack or dashing strike the bot, he draws an extra card, then blocks if he can. (Note: only a bot gets to draw a card in this situation; human players never do.)
- If the bot can't block when you dashing strike, he retreats with the extra card he drew.
Flip a coin to see who goes first. If you win, the bot goes first next round.
You can play against a training dummy with no abilities.
You can play against Garus Rook, the stone golem who runs the Fantasy Strike tournament. Rook uses his abilities any time he is able to.
You can play against Deathstrike Dragon, if you dare! He has the three abilities listed below, and it takes two hits to defeat him. (Use the timeout rules from Raid on Deathstrike Dragon.)
When you hit the Dragon with a pair or better, he must discard all cards of the same number as your hit. (For example, when you hit the Dragon bot with a pair of 2s, if he has a 2 in his hand, he must discard it.)
| Dragon Ability | He Must Use It... |
|---|---|
| Deep Breath | Whenever an opponent is in range. |
| Perfect Counter | Whenever possible. |
| Black Diamond Hide | If it would enable the Dragon to block a dashing strike he couldn't otherwise block. |
Achievements
Go forth, achieve, and become a Master Flash Dueler! Can you earn all 180 achievement points?
| Achievement | Requirement | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Initiation | Win a round against the Training Dummy without using any abilities. | 5 |
| First Win | Win a game (best 3 out of 5 rounds) against the Training Dummy without using any abilities. | 5 |
| Stop the Rock | Win a game against the Rook bot with any character. | 10 |
| Party of Three | Win games against the Rook bot with three different characters. | 10 |
| Rook Stomper | Win a game against the Rook bot without using any abilities. | 15 |
| Dragon Blood | Win a round against the Dragon bot with any character. | 20 |
| Dragon Victory | Win a game (best 3 of 5 rounds) against the Dragon bot with any character. | 20 |
| Sad Dragon | Win games against the Dragon bot with three different characters. | 20 |
| Dragon Stomper | Win a game against the Dragon bot without using any abilities. | 25 |
| Master Flash Dueler | Beat the Dragon bot with all 20 characters! | 50 |
Team Battle (2 vs 2)
Have four people? Team up for 2 vs 2!
Setup
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Choose your characters. One player from team A chooses one of the 20 Fantasy Strike Characters, then one player from team B chooses a character. Then the other member of team B chooses, then the second member of team A chooses.
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At the beginning of each round shuffle the 40 numbered cards, put them face-down on a pile on the table, set aside the top 5 cards without looking at them, then each player draws 5 cards.
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Put your character on your Start space of the track. Both characters of team A go on one Start space, while both characters from team B go on the other.
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Flip a coin to determine which team goes first. On later rounds, the team that lost the previous round goes first.
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Set aside the 5 win tokens for now. Take a win token each time your team wins a round. Winning a round means defeating both members of the other team, even if one member on your team was defeated. The first team to win 3 rounds wins the game.
Play Structure
A player from team A takes their turn, then a player from team B. Then the other player from team A, then the other player from team B. Repeat this sequence (p1 A, p1 B, p2 A, p2 B) without changing the order for the rest of the round. Each round, you can switch who is p1 and who is p2 on your team.
If a player loses the round, their teammate alternates turns with the opposing team. For example, if player 1 on team A loses, the turns proceed as p2 A, p1 B, p2 A, p2 B, etc.
In this mode, you can block or retreat while recovering, but not dashing block (see below). If you retreat twice before your next turn, you only have to recover one turn to make up for it. As usual, refill your hand to five cards at the end of your turn, whether you are recovering or not.
Reshuffling
When the draw deck runs out of cards in this mode, gather up the discard pile and the 5 cards you set aside at the start of the round (you still can't look at what they are). Shuffle all those cards, set aside five of those cards without looking at them, then they become the new draw deck. Do this reshuffle procedure TWICE per round. Whenever a player draws the last card after there have already been two reshuffles, the round ends in timeout.
Other Team Battle Rules
- Talk with your teammates all you want. You can show each other your hand cards, too.
- You can't advance past the front-most member of the other team.
- Remove your character from the playfield if you're defeated, but don't fret — if your teammate wins the round, your team still wins!
- Both teammates can occupy the same space. If an opponent attacks or dashing strikes that space, both you and your teammate must separately respond to avoid being defeated. As usual, attacks must be blocked and dashing strikes can be either blocked or retreated from. You can push multiple opponents who are on an adjacent space.
Timeout
When the last card is drawn, time has run out. If at least one of your players remains while both opponents are defeated, your team wins. If one team has two players left while the other only has one player, the team with two players wins. If no one on either team is defeated or exactly one player on each team is defeated, the winning team is the one whose front-most (remaining) member advanced farthest on the board. If this is a tie, both teams get a win token that round.
Dashing Block
In the Team Battle mode, you have access to a new move: the dashing block. If a teammate is ahead of you and is threatened with an attack or dashing strike, you may dashing block to protect them. Play a card as your dash to move forward (not backward) just like with a dashing strike, then you and your partner play the appropriate cards to block. For example, if a teammate 5 spaces ahead of you is attacked with a pair of 3s, you could play a 5 to dash to their space, then you each play a 3 to block the opponent's pair of 3s. You can't dashing block while recovering.
Raid on Deathstrike Dragon (2, 3, or 4 vs 1)
Master Menelker is powerful in his human form, but his true power shows in his dragon form, known as Deathstrike Dragon. Up to four mortals can team up to try to take down a fifth player controlling the Dragon.
Winning the Game
Deathstrike Dragon wins the game when he has crushed the dreams of all mortals by defeating every one of them. He only needs to score one hit on each mortal to win, but the mortals must score multiple hits on the Dragon to win as a team. Even a defeated mortal still wins if his team wins, so after he has fallen he can advise his teammates on strategy.
Setup
All players including the Dragon draw from a common deck of numbered cards. The Dragon also gets more abilities and a larger hand size for each extra mortal he faces (see the table below).
In this mode, you don't set aside 5 numbered cards before each round (you use all 40 numbered cards). When the draw pile runs out, shuffle the discard pile and Dragon's hand cards to create the new draw deck. Then the Dragon draws the number of cards he just discarded. This reshuffle happens once in a game that starts with 2 mortals, twice with 3 mortals, and 3 times with 4 mortals.
Before the game, the Deathstrike Dragon player selects which abilities they will use this game from the total set of 8 dragon cards and sets aside the rest. Deathstrike Dragon can only use one ability per turn, and he flips that ability card face down when used. He can use an ability on his own turn, and another ability on each mortal's turn though.
The Dragon player starts by drawing up to their hand size, and they draw back up to that number at the end of each of their own turns.
| # of mortals | # of Reshuffles | Dragon hit points | Dragon hand size | Dragon ability cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 reshuffle | 2 | 7 cards | 4 abilities |
| 3 | 2 reshuffles | 3 | 8 cards | 6 abilities |
| 4 | 3 reshuffles | 4 | 9 cards | 8 abilities |
Play Structure
The mortals play first and always take their turns in the same order, followed by the dragon's turn. Mortals refill their hands to 5 cards only after they have all taken their turns, instead of at the end of each turn like in other modes. In a 5-player game, the turn order would be: 1p, 2p, 3p, 4p, then mortals all refill their hands (in turn-order), then the Dragon takes his turn, then refills his hand.
Whenever a mortal is defeated, Deathstrike Dragon takes an extra turn after his normal turn. (Multiple extra turns if he defeats multiple mortals in a row.)
Other Raid Rules
Deathstrike Dragon can block or retreat while recovering, but he can't take any other actions while recovering, except to refill his hand. If he retreats multiple times before his next turn, he only has to recover one turn to make up for it.
Deathstrike Dragon cannot advance past the front-most mortal. You might try to keep other mortals safely in the back so they can use their abilities, or you might try to advance all mortals to try to score hits. Remember to remove your character from the board if you're defeated.
More than one mortal can occupy the same space. If the dragon attacks or dashing strikes that space, every mortal on that space must separately respond to avoid being defeated. As usual, attacks must be blocked and dashing strikes can be either blocked or retreated from. The dragon can push multiple mortals who are adjacent to him.
Dashing Block
Mortals facing the Dragon have access to the dashing block maneuver described under Team Battle. More than one teammate can contribute cards to a single block. For example, if the Dragon attacks player 1 with three 4s, players 2, 3, and 4 could dashing block to player 1's space, and each contribute one 4 to the block.
Timeout
When the last card is drawn (after the appropriate number of reshuffles), time has run out. If the Dragon advanced farther than the farthest forward remaining mortal, he wins. If the farthest-forward remaining mortal advanced farther than the Dragon, the mortals win. If they advanced the same amount, the game is a draw.
Betrayal at Raid on Deathstrike Dragon (4 vs 1)
In this even-more-difficult Raid on Deathstrike Dragon, one of the mortals might be a traitor who is secretly on the dragon's team! You need exactly 5 players to play the Betrayal scenario.
Winning the Game
Deathstrike Dragon's team wins the game when he has crushed the dreams of all non-traitor mortals by defeating every one of them. The mortals win when they defeat Deathstrike Dragon, whether or not they defeat or even reveal the traitor.
Setup
First choose your characters, then shuffle the five loyalty cards and deal one facedown to each player (including the Dragon). Exactly one of these cards is the Traitor card. If the Dragon gets this card, there is no traitor this game, though the mortals don't know that! If one of the mortals gets the traitor card, they are the traitor though the other mortals don't know that! Loyal mortals cannot reveal their loyalty card until the game ends (unless they are formally accused of being traitors).
| # of mortals | # of Reshuffles | Dragon hit points | Dragon hand size | Dragon ability cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 reshuffles | 3 | 8 cards | 6 abilities |
Play Structure
Gameplay rules are the same as for the regular Raid on Deathstrike Dragon, except for all the stuff about the traitor!
If You're The Traitor
Traitor Reveal. First, know about your important power. As the traitor, you can reveal yourself voluntarily at any time by showing your Traitor card — even if the Dragon attacks or dashing strikes you. At the moment you reveal, you can (if you choose to) name the exact cards in a loyal mortal's hand. For example, "Bob has a pair of 2s, a pair of 3s, and a 5!" If you correctly name the exact contents of the mortal's hand, that mortal is defeated. You may then try to name the exact hand of another mortal, and so on. If you incorrectly name a player's hand, there is no penalty, nothing happens, but you can't attempt to name cards in any other hands.
If you choose to reveal yourself, after you finish naming hands (or decide not to name any), put your character on the Dragon's start space. You now fight alongside the Dragon, meaning you may dashing block to help each other, and that you now move forward toward the mortals and retreat toward the Dragon's start space. No player can advance past the front-most member of the other team.
Strategy. If you're the traitor, you want the other mortals to be defeated. You want to play intentionally poorly ("Sorry, I can't save you with a dashing block right now") but not so poorly that the others catch on. If anyone suspects your play is suspiciously bad and asks to see your hand, you can make people think that person is the traitor instead of you! How? Remind everyone that it's a real traitor move to trick people into revealing their hands. Or, you can go the other way and say that someone else is playing intentionally poorly, and that they should show their hand to prove their play made sense. If they do, then reveal yourself and defeat them for free by naming their hand!
If You're A Loyal Mortal
If you're a loyal mortal, you want to defeat the Dragon. Be on the lookout for mortals who seem to be playing intentionally poorly. One of them might be the traitor, but be careful because sometimes there is no traitor at all.
Accusing A Traitor. A mortal may accuse another mortal of being the traitor at any time. The accused then reveals his loyalty card. If the accused is a traitor, he is instantly defeated and removes his character from the board, but play continues until either the Dragon is defeated or all loyal mortals are defeated. If the accused player is not a traitor, then the accuser is immediately defeated and removes his character from the board.
If You're The Dragon
You have the advantage here, so crush those mortals easily and hope that the traitor takes out at least one of them for you. If you get the traitor card, you can reveal it any time before you're defeated to gain an extra hit point!
Timeout
When the last card is drawn, time has run out. If the traitor hasn't revealed yet, they reveal now. The tie is broken by whether the Dragon advanced farther than the farthest-forward loyal mortal. If they advanced the same amount, the game is a draw.
FAQ
Here are some frequently asked questions, in case you get stuck on something.
General
Is a "dashing strike" an "attack"? No, a dashing strike is a dashing strike and an attack is an attack. If something triggers on one of those, it doesn't trigger on the other.
Can I dashing strike when I'm one space away from an opponent (adjacent to them)? No.
If I'm 3 spaces away from an opponent, can I dashing strike with a 5 as the dash, then a 1 to strike? Yes. If you would dash past the opponent, instead you stop in the space adjacent to them. You can then strike with a 1. This means that 1s are pretty valuable because there are several different ways to dashing strike the opponent with a 1 as the strike.
If I'm on the Start space, can I move back from there? You can "move back" but you'll end up in the same place, still on the Start space. You cannot "retreat" from the Start space though.
What if I have 5 or more cards at the end of the turn when I'm supposed to draw up to 5? Nothing special happens, don't draw any and keep going. It's ok to have more than 5 cards if an ability caused this.
Character-Specific
Grave's Reversal. To "counter" an ability means to negate it. When an opponent announces they will use an ability, Grave can use Reversal in response to prevent the opponent's ability from ever happening. The opponent still turns their ability card face down. If the opponent's ability would trigger when they move or dashing strike, look at the space they land (rather than the space they started on) to check if they activated the ability "from a dark space."
Midori's Dragon Form. If an opponent is adjacent to you and "pushes" you back, that does not end Dragon Form. Similarly, abilities that push such as DeGrey's Spectral Push do not end Dragon Form, either.
Rook's Rock Armor. In Solo Mode against Rook's bot, if he has more than one higher card (or pair, etc.) he can block with, choose randomly amongst his valid options.
DeGrey's Spectral Push, Jaina's Charged Shot, BBB's Steam Vent. These abilities work even when you're not adjacent to an opponent.
Valerie's Epiphanies. If you use Green Eye's Epiphany to treat a 3 in your hand as a 4, you can attack an opponent who is 4 spaces away with it. You can power it up with another 4, but not with another 3.
Geiger's Rewind Time. In modes with 3-5 players, this ability's reshuffle does not count toward the number of reshuffles before timeout happens.
Lum's Poker Flourish. If the round isn't over, you can still perform your turn's main action after using Poker Flourish.
Lum's Roll the Dice. You can use this to dashing block in 2v2 and during the Raid on Deathstrike Dragon. If the cards drawn don't help you block or dashing block, you discard them and still block or dashing block if you want.
Lum's Raise the Stakes. Against the Dragon, this just draws a card and nothing else.
Onimaru's Clockwork Soldier. Use a coin or any object for the Clockwork Soldier. When Onimaru is recovering, you still move his Clockwork Soldier. In 2v2 or during a Raid on Deathstirke Dragon, remove the Clockwork Soldier from the board when Onimaru is defeated or revealed as a traitor. Opponents can't retreat if they're on the same space as the Soldier.
Persephone's Dominance. This works even on an opponent who is recovering (as long as they are on a dark space).
Gloria's Sanctuary. If the card drawn from the ability is the last card in the deck, then timeout happens and Gloria doesn't need to retreat or block. Instead, use the normal timeout procedure.
Gwen's Shadow Plague. If Lum uses Raise the Stakes against Gwen and the round goes to timeout, Lum wins two rounds as usual. If Argagarg's Pacifism ever interacts with Shadow Plague (whether they are opponents, teammates, or in the same Custom Clockwork character) then Shadow Plague always takes precedence. In a Dragon Raid, if timeout is reached and Gwen is still alive, Gwen's team loses. In a match of Gwen vs Gwen (or if she's on both teams in 2v2), if it goes to timeout, both sides get a win token for the round.
Zane's Landmine. Use a coin or any object for the landmine. If Zane pushes an opponent over it and Zane crosses it too, Zane doesn't get hit but the opponent does. Passing over the landmine doesn't affect the movement of Zane or the opponent. The mine can hit multiple players simultaneously if they all land on it (or get pushed past it) at exactly the same time.
Any more questions? Visit www.fantasystrike.com.