Jagged Alliance: The Board Game
Jagged Alliance: The Board Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
Select your team of mercenaries from a well-stocked roster and lead them against an evil dictator on an ever-changing map. With your battle-hardened professionals, you will liberate Sector by Sector from the hands of the dictator's minions and take on a series of missions in a campaign across the nation of Arulco, finding new gear, weapons and allies to aid you in your fight.
Face Deidranna's (or another dictator's) minions and Lieutenants, train rebels to help you keep your hard-won territory and co-ordinate your team to find the best strategy while solving missions and facing the enraged dictator's retaliation.
Do you have what it takes to free Arulco or will you die trying?
Component List
- This Rulebook
- 1 Scenario Book
- 17 Double-sided Sectors
- 13 Mercenary Boards
- 2 Dictator Boards
- 1 Arulco Map
- 1 Save Game Envelope
- 13 Colored Dice
- 70 Wooden Cubes
- 22 Miniatures consisting of:
- 6 Redshirts
- 3 Snipers
- 3 Shields
- 3 Bloodcats
- 1 Tank
- 6 Mercenaries
- 10 Colored Miniature Bases
- 21 Large Cards consisting of:
- 5 Enemy Cards
- 16 Mission Cards
- 255 Small Cards consisting of:
- 89 A.I.M. Cards
- 104 Loot Cards (3 Decks)
- 18 Event Cards (3 Decks)
- 8 Larry Behavior Cards
- 29 Spawn Cards (4 Decks)
- 7 Lieutenant Cards
- 120 Cardboard Tokens consisting of:
- 20 Encounter Tokens
- 16 Condition Tokens
- 2 Mission Access Tokens
- 2 Day/Night Tokens
- 12 Objective Tokens
- 24 Resource Tokens
- 2 Incoming! Tokens
- 16 Sniper and Tank Tokens
- 8 Miniature Replacements
- 8 Command Action Tokens
- 2 Tracker Tokens
- 4 Threat Tokens
- 4 Counterattack Tokens
Components
Dice Rolling
Throughout the game, you are using dice to resolve actions and attacks or defend against them. There are different colors of dice representing your level of skill with an action. Whenever you roll, you roll the number and type of dice all at once.
- Yellow Dice – The basic dice you use with very few successes on them.
- Orange Dice – Represent a good skill level. Results are both more likely to produce successes as well as more of them.
- Red Dice – True mastery in a field. Dice results yield the highest number of successes.
- Blue Dice – Used to hide from enemy attacks or to bribe officials. Only have a 50/50 chance of succeeding.
- Success Symbols - The icons on the dice represent successes for your roll. There can be 1, 2, 3, 4 or no successes depending on the type of die used.
Expertise
Expertise can be gained through allies or items and allows you to roll an additional die for every expertise icon coming up in your current roll. This applies for the subsequent rolls with Expertise dice as well.
What if I run out of dice?
Simply note your total successes and roll additional dice as required until all dice rolls have been made.
Tokens
- Tracker Token
- Encounter Tokens
- Condition Tokens
- Incoming! Tokens
- Mission Access Tokens
- Threat & Counter-attack Tokens
- Sniper & Tank Tokens
- Command Action Tokens
- Objective Tokens
- Resource Tokens
- Day/Night Tokens – There are two tokens in this game. The one with the skull on the DAY side is used in the regular game, while the one with the skull on the NIGHT side is used by the UNDERGROUND! Add-on.
Campaign
Campaign Play
Jagged Alliance is meant to be played as a campaign that has you leading your group of hired guns and the rebel forces in liberating the nation of Arulco from the clutches of an evil dictator.
Starting a Campaign
Whenever starting a new campaign, fill out a new campaign table (at the back of this book) with your player names and follow the prompts in the scenarios when asked to check off a box or mark something.
Killed mercenaries or allies will also be kept track of there, so you remember that you can't bring them back later.
Before starting a new campaign make sure the A.I.M. Deck is sorted by successive numbers and no cards are missing or placed in another deck.
Remove the missions "The Shady Lady Brothel", "Child Labor Factory" and "Deal with the Hicks" from the mission deck. These missions will be added by specific scenarios.
Saving Progress
Between missions, you'll keep all your gear, allies and unlocked campaign rewards, but as you progress the enemy will also get stronger.
To help you keep track of your progress between sessions, we have provided a Campaign Progress Tracker, which you can find on the back of the rulebook. You can copy it before use, so you can play several campaigns or download it from our website at www.undergroundgames.rocks.
3 vs 4 Mercenaries
If playing with only 3 mercenaries (regardless of how many players play the game), each mercenary receives 1 additional Stamina cube to those indicated on their mercenary board. Add additional Stamina from allies and equipment normally.
Also add one shared Command Action token to the board that any mercenary can use during their action phase. Once used by any player, it refreshes with the next turn's new player phase.
Scenario
Playing a Scenario
Each scenario briefing contains objectives which must be met by the mercenaries to win the scenario as well as loss conditions, which can be general or specific to a Scenario.
If a win or lose condition has been fulfilled, immediately end the game, discard all conditions (except Severe Injuries) and reset the mercenaries' Stamina and equipment Durability.
Lieutenants and unresolved Missions remain in play regardless of whether you win or lose!
Losing a Scenario
You will ALWAYS lose a scenario IF:
- All mercenaries are knocked down at the same time.
- There are no more mercenaries available for selection after a player's current mercenary died.
- The team fails to defend against one of the Dictator's counter-attacks.
Sometimes an additional lose condition is stated, such as the Dictator reaching a certain Threat level.
A lost scenario can be retried until you succeed, but dead allies and mercenaries are permanently lost.
Your team gets to keep all gear, money and rebels they have collected, so you may have an easier time on your next try.
Winning a Scenario
Congratulations! You have met the scenario's victory conditions.
You may now loot any corpses and loot tokens in Sectors with mercenaries in them before ending the scenario.
When you're ready follow the instructions in the Scenario Book under 'YOU WON' – usually drawing new cards to unlock new campaign locations and adding new allies and gear to the A.I.M. deck.
You can now save your game or continue.
Between Games
Winning a scenario will reward specific cards from the numbered A.I.M. deck. Draw them when prompted by the scenario from the deck. You will find more details in the A.I.M. rules of the Intermediate Game.
To save all the mercenary boards and gear from your current game for future scenarios in the campaign, simply put all the components into the save game envelope to store them for the next game.
Before starting a new scenario, players can freely trade all cards including mercenaries with other players. If you want to start with an unused mercenary for your next scenario, transfer all equipment and Severe Injuries of your current mercenary to the new one.
You can keep excess gear and allies in storage between scenarios but cannot access them during a scenario.
Scenario Setup
To begin a campaign or play a new scenario, you have to:
- Choose an available scenario based on your campaign progress and look it up in the scenario book.
- Set up Sector Tiles as indicated in the Scenario Briefing.
- Place Spawn Cards, Rewards, and Objective Tokens on Sectors.
- Pick your Mercenaries based on total number of Players:
- 1 Player: 3 Mercenaries
- 2 Players: 2 each
- 3-4 Players: 1 each
- Fill each Mercenary board with: a. Stamina cubes equal to the number displayed in the Stamina zone b. One Command Action token
- Distribute your current equipment among the chosen Mercenaries however you want to (The first scenario will provide you with default gear and weapons). Any items that cannot be carried into the mission will remain out of play for this scenario.
- Pick one of the available miniatures to represent each mercenary and put them on the starting position as indicated by the scenario.
- Designate one player to keep track of all Dictator related activities and one player to hold on to the Resource Pool and income.
- Choose a Dictator and place the corresponding Dictator board next to the Sector Tiles (we recommend you start your first campaign against Queen Deidranna).
- Set up the dictator. Put a tracker token on space 1 of the Threat track and a Counter-Attack token on each space with an exclamation mark.
- Place the Day/Night token with the Day side faceup next to the Dictator board.
- Take the Basic Steps Event card, follow its instructions and place it on the first event slot on the Dictator board.
- Place the Enemy cards nearby so that every player can read them. The campaign progress specifies which enemy cards to choose and which side is face-up.
- Separate the Event and Loot decks by type (as pictured to the right) and shuffle each deck as well as the Mission deck, then place them within everyone's reach.
- Sort Encounter Tokens according to the scenario briefing, turn them facedown, and shuffle them.
- Separate the remaining cubes and tokens by type and keep them nearby.
- Read the Scenario Briefing carefully and follow any unique setup rules.
Sectors
Sectors and Areas
To free Arulco from the reign of the dictator, the players must liberate important parts of the country called Sectors.
Each Sector is separated into several smaller Areas. These are used during battle to determine movement and ranges. An Area can hold any number of miniatures and tokens.
Several Areas of each Sector contain one or more Spawn symbols marked by the letters A-D. These represent Areas in which enemies or encounters might appear and are referred to by corresponding letters on Spawn Cards in the Sector combat setup.
Sectors with a Rebel Slot can hold a rebel who will help with the defense against dictator attacks.
The Sector ID helps you with the scenario setup.
Sector States
Depending on the situation a Sector is always in one of three states:
Occupied
The Sector is under enemy control as indicated by a face down Spawn Card on the Sector. As soon as the Sector is entered by a mercenary, it becomes contested.
Contested
A battle for the Sector is currently taking place and the Spawn Card has been flipped. One or more mercenaries are fighting the occupation forces for control of the Sector.
Mercenaries cannot move out of a contested Sector!
Liberated
The Sector has been cleared of any enemy presence and facedown tokens.
A liberated Sector is treated as one single Area! All mercenaries in that Sector are considered to be in the same Area regardless of the smaller Area they are standing in. For movement purposes a liberated Sector counts as one step.
Movement
During battle, movement is based on the Areas inside a Sector. It costs one action to move from your current Area into any adjacent Area which is sharing a border.
Range
Attacks and effects have a certain range inside which the target must be for the attack to be usable. Range between attacker and target is determined by counting the shortest direct path between them.
Example: Ivan has an AK-47 with a range of 1. He can shoot the Redshirt in the adjacent Area D but the Sniper in Area A is out of reach.
A range of 1 can hit the target in the same or an adjacent Area while a range of 0 means you can only affect someone in the same Area.
Range does not extend across a Sector's borders, so it is not possible to attack or affect someone in another Sector from an adjacent Sector.
Terrain Types
Areas can have certain properties, giving them different tactical uses. Some equipment or card effects refer to a certain type of terrain for their effect.
Jungle (+1 Stealth die)
Mercenaries standing inside a jungle Area gain an additional Stealth die when trying to hide from attacks. The dictator's forces never use Stealth thus this effect only applies to mercenaries.
Settlement (+1 Armor)
Enemies standing inside a settlement Area gain an additional point of armor. Mercenaries gain an additional yellow armor die.
Impassable
A red border is impassable and cannot be moved across. This affects movement only, so attacking across an impassable border is possible. When determining range, impassable borders are thus ignored and the shortest path is chosen.
Swamp (+1 received Damage)
Attacks against targets inside a swamp Area deal one additional damage. Simply add +1 to the attack's damage value before resolving armor/stealth.
Mercenaries
Mercenary Board
Each mercenary has a unique board on which the players can manage this mercenary's equipment, stamina, and allies. Mercenaries differ in the amount of Skill dice, Ally slots, Abilities and Stamina they have available.
1) Ability
This explains a mercenary's unique ability. It is what makes them extra special! Some must be activated during the mercenary's turn while others provide a permanent advantage.
2) Skills
A mercenary's proficiency with Leadership, Mechanical, and Medical work. The dice shown next to each skill are the dice a mercenary can roll when using that skill.
3) Inventory
Each mercenary can carry up to 3 equipment cards of any type in their inventory with them.
4) Active Equipment Slots
Equipment that is slotted here can be actively used by the mercenary during their turn. Two slots hold weapons and tools, while the third can hold armor.
5) Ally Slots
Each mercenary can take a limited number of Allies with them. Any Ally slotted here supports a mercenary by adding the displayed abilities to them.
6) Stamina
The Stamina zone contains the mercenary's available Stamina points, which represents both the mercenary's potential for action and their health.
Stamina can be spent to perform actions or is removed by suffering damage. Managing one's Stamina is a vital part of the game. At the start of a mission, place as many Stamina cubes into the zone as indicated by the number in it.
Add one additional stamina cube per mercenary when starting a scenario with only 3 mercenaries!
7) Fatigue
The Fatigue zone holds cubes that the mercenary has already spent but can recover. Each time a mercenary suffers Fatigue, they move that many cubes from the Stamina zone to the Fatigue zone. Each time they recover Fatigue, they move that many cubes the other way.
A mercenary recovers 2 Fatigue at the start of their own activation (as shown by the number in the arrowhead).
8) Wounds
The Wounds zone contains cubes that the mercenary has lost due to suffering wound damage from attacks or events. Each time a mercenary suffers wounds from an attack, they move cubes equal to the amount of wounds damage from the Stamina zone to the Wound zone.
Each time they heal wounds, they move that number of cubes back from Wounds to Stamina.
If there is not at least one cube in the Fatigue or Wound zone, recovering or healing has no effect.
Adding/Removing Stamina Cubes
Mercenaries will often receive or lose additional stamina cubes through external influence other than wounds or fatigue. Whenever a new cube is added, it is put into the Stamina zone. Whenever a cube is removed, it is taken from the Stamina zone if possible. If there is no Stamina left, it is taken from the Fatigue zone if possible, or else from the Wound zone.
A mercenary can never become knocked down by losing a Stamina cube through an effect other than Wounds or Fatigue.
Knocked Out
Whenever there are no more cubes in the Stamina zone, but Fatigue or Wounds must be taken, the mercenary is knocked out.
The mercenary's turn immediately ends, their miniature is put face down, and they gain a Severe Injury token.
A knocked down mercenary cannot be activated until at least one Stamina is regained by recovering Fatigue or healing Wounds through the help of another mercenary. This means mercenaries do not recover by themselves and cannot spend any action, Command action or use any ability.
A knocked down mercenary is ignored by enemies but continues to be a valid target for actions performed by other mercenaries (including "Group Move").
Severe Injuries & Death
A Severe Injury reduces the mercenary's maximum and current Stamina by one. When you receive a Severe Injury immediately remove one of the mercenary's Stamina cubes (following the rules above) and put it onto the Severe Injury token.
Severe Injuries are hard to heal and require treatment with special equipment or in a hospital. After healing a Severe Injury return the stamina cube to the mercenary's Stamina zone.
Whenever mercenaries suffer a second Severe Injury, they die instead. The player has to choose half of the mercenary's owned cards (rounded down) to discard. Allies that are discarded this way are killed! Return the other cards back into their respective decks, so they can be regained later. Upgrades, whether attached or not, count as a separate card each.
The player then chooses a new mercenary board and transfers the remaining items to that merc. They may also access any between scenarios stored cards. At the start of the next Player Phase, the new mercenary is placed on any liberated Sector or Area with another mercenary and joins the fight.
Equipment
Mercenaries start the first scenario with basic equipment but may find or buy better equipment as the campaign progresses.
A piece of equipment can have offensive and defensive capabilities that help a mercenary survive in combat. Usually equipment provides one or more (effects described on the card).
An item's Cost (3) is how much money a mercenary must pay to buy the item.
Durability (4) allows a piece of equipment to be 'overstressed' and enhance its usability. The ability next to it describes the effect you can add to actions with that equipment when spending durability.
Some equipment is Heavy and thus requires one other equipment slot to be empty to be equipped. The slot can be a weapon or armor slot but cannot hold an item as long as the heavy item is blocking that slot. Heavy items also take up 2 inventory slots if stored in a mercenary's inventory.
Upgrade Slots (5) determine how many upgrades a piece of equipment can hold. All starting gear has 0 upgrade slots, thus cannot hold any upgrades at all.
Usually equipment provides one or more Actions (1) that can be used during that mercenary's turn or adds defensive dice during an enemy activation.
Each equipment has a Type (2), indicating where it must be equipped in order to be usable: Armor goes into the armor slot, Weapons and Tools into any of the weapon slots, while Consumables and Upgrades follow their own rules.
The Range of an equipment determines the reach at which it can be used. The number determines up to how many Areas away a mercenary can pick a target.
Tools are placed into a weapon slot but provide a variety of offensive and defensive abilities, even actions or additional armor dice.
Upgrade Cards
Upgrade cards provide benefits to other equipment rather than directly to the mercenary. If an equipment card has any unused Upgrade slots, an upgrade card can be placed beneath it (so the upgrade effect remains visible).
Weapon upgrades improve weapons, while armor upgrades improve armor. Upgrades are treated as part of the equipment card as long as they're attached to that card and thus also don't take up any inventory space while attached. A mercenary can apply or remove an upgrade only at the start of their activation, as described later.
Consumable Cards
Consumable cards can be used directly from the inventory and provide a one-time effect. A mercenary can use a consumable card anytime during their Action Phase and then discard the card. Consumables that have a range can be used on mercenaries or enemies within that range inside the same Sector!
Discarding Cards
Whenever discarding cards, return them to the discard pile of their respective deck.
Certain cards explicitly state that they are removed from the ongoing campaign once played. Return those to the box, but DO NOT destroy them. This is not a legacy game.
Rules vs Cards
Text on cards always supersede any rules in the rulebook. Cards or Mercenary and Dictator boards can give you more command actions, extra effects or disrupt rules in various ways. Always follow the text on the card if in doubt.
Receiving Cards
Whenever a mercenary receives a new card, they add it to their inventory or directly to any free slot that can hold that type of item.
If a player has more cards than they can fit into their inventory and slots they must discard all excess cards, however, a mercenary may discard cards from their inventory or slots to make room for new cards at any time for free.
Trading Cards
Mercenaries who are in the same Area, can freely swap their items from their inventory as long as one of the mercenaries is currently active.
Items already in slots and upgrades attached to those items cannot be traded this way. A mercenary can only rearrange their equipment at the start of their activation.
Game Phases
Gameplay Phases
In Jagged Alliance two sides compete over a region specified in the scenario: the players as mercenaries hired by the Rebel Army and the Forces of the Dictator (The player's antagonist).
The struggle is played over a series of turns that go as follows:
Player Phase
Players may choose in which order to activate their mercenaries. They can then move around the battlefield, fight enemies, liberate Sectors, complete missions or perform other tasks to accomplish their objectives.
Following each Mercenary Activation is an Enemy Activation, which allows all Enemies in that mercenary's Sector to act! A mercenary must complete their and their enemy's activations before the next mercenary can be activated.
When all players have activated their mercenaries, the current turn ends, and the Dictator Phase begins.
Dictator Phase
The Dictator takes a turn, increasing the Threat, ramping up the difficulty of the following turns, triggering an Event and possibly a counter-attack trying to restore their control over the region.
After all Dictator actions and their results have been resolved, the Dictator Phase ends and is followed by a new Player Phase.
Player Phase
During the player phase players can activate their mercenaries in any order they want. During an activation, the active mercenary can:
- Recover Fatigue, refresh their command action, rearrange equipment and may decide to flee.
- Execute their desired available ACTIONS in any order and finish the activation when done.
- After that, an ENEMY ACTIVATION in that mercenary's Sector occurs. Enemies in a Sector can activate several times per turn if multiple mercenaries activate in the same Sector.
Once the Enemy Activation step has been completed the next mercenary activates, until all mercenaries have completed their activation.
Mercenaries can only use actions (including Command Actions) during their own activation. You cannot "save" actions for another player's activation phase.
Start Activation
On activation, mercenaries go through these steps in following order:
1. Refresh Command Action
The activated mercenary refreshes their Command Action(s).
2. Recover Fatigue
The mercenary recovers the amount of Fatigue stated on the Mercenary board (modified by any events or cards). If there is no Fatigue to recover, this step is skipped.
3. 'On Activation' Effects
Some Allies or other cards might have effects that refer to "On Activation". These effects can be triggered now if the player wishes to do so.
4. Flee
If a mercenary is currently located in a contested Sector or on a Mission Card and at least one liberated Sector is adjacent to that, the mercenary can decide to flee.
Fleeing will move all mercenaries (even knocked down ones) from the active mercenary's Sector into one adjacent liberated Sector and immediately ends the current mercenary's turn.
This will also reset the Sector or mission back to its initial state described on the spawn or mission card.
5. Reorganize Equipment
The mercenary can reorganize equipment if desired. This includes changing or removing cards from any weapon or armor slots or adding and removing upgrades. They can also freely trade inventory items with any other mercenaries in the same Area (not Sector) while doing this.
After all steps have been resolved, move to the Actions step.
Actions
The active mercenary can take a series of actions in any desired order and as often as they want to. The action limit is usually dictated by the amount of Stamina and equipment a mercenary has.
Movement Cost: 1 Fatigue or 1 Wound per step
The mercenary moves from one Area to an adjacent Area or Sector. During their activation a mercenary can take any number of steps provided they have enough Stamina left but cannot leave a contested Sector.
Suffer 1 Fatigue for each step taken. If moving out of an Area that contains at least one enemy, the mercenary suffers 1 Wound instead of 1 Fatigue for that move.
Moving into Areas with a face-down Encounter Token will require the mercenary to reveal all tokens in that Area. Revealing a token does not cost Fatigue.
Moving into an occupied Sector starts a new combat as covered later in these rules.
Attack/Use Equipment Cost: Depends on Equipment
The mercenary can activate an action provided by any slotted equipment card or ally. The cost of these actions varies and must be paid in advance to use them.
Looting Cost: Free
During their turn, a mercenary that is inside the same Area as a defeated enemy or revealed loot encounter, can loot. Draw a card from the equipment card deck corresponding to the loot icon displayed, then discard the enemy miniature or token.
Use Inventory Item Cost: Free
Use a consumable item out of the inventory. That item is discarded, and its effects are applied immediately. Consumable items with a range can be used within that range. You can use as many consumables as you have available this way unless their cards specify a different cost.
Some consumable items can only be used while taking a specific action (as stated on the consumable card).
Command Action Cost: Spend Command Action
A mercenary can spend their Command Action to take one of following actions:
a) Group Move Move into an adjacent Area or Sector without paying Fatigue and take any number of mercenaries from your current Area along into the destination Area. (Remember if you enter an occupied Sector, you will have to apply any effects to all mercenaries you took with you). Certain cards allow you to move your group by more than one Area. If you do so, you can pick up and/or leave behind mercenaries along the way as desired.
Each equipment and ally can only be activated once per mercenary Activation (some cards may specifically allow you to ignore this rule).
Remember - Liberated Sectors count as a single Area!
Sometimes when attempting to resolve Missions or when entering certain Sectors, mercenaries will be tasked with succeeding on a skill roll with a certain difficulty.
To attempt such a test the mercenary still has to spend a Command Action first. In order to succeed the mercenary then must roll equal to or more than the depicted amount of successes. Successes required for such a skill test cannot be converted into skill effects like heal, repair or recovering Fatigue. But excess successes can be used to apply the respective skill effect.
If you fail in a skill roll your successes are not "accumulated" for that roll, but you will be able to use them immediately for their normal skill effects instead.
b) Skill
Perform a skill roll. Depending on the selected skill, the mercenary takes the corresponding amount and types of dice and rolls them.
Each rolled success has an effect based on the selected skill and successes can be distributed freely among several valid targets:
- Leadership – You inspire other Mercenaries in the same Sector to recover Fatigue by giving them some pep talk (a.k.a. screaming at them from a distance). Distribute the successes you rolled amongst any mercenaries present in your Sector to recover 1 Fatigue per success. Cannot be applied to yourself!
- Mechanical – For each success you repair 1 durability of any equipment carried by any mercenary in the same Area. It does not matter if the repaired equipment card is inside the inventory or equipped.
- Medical – You treat the wounded, healing 1 wound from any one mercenary in your Area (including yourself) per success.
c) Train
This allows you to train rebels that defend the region against the Dictator's counter-attacks (mentioned later in these rules).
Place one rebel from the team's Resource Pool on a free rebel slot in your current liberated Sector. You cannot place more rebels in a Sector than there are slots available!
d) Bribe
Use your hard-earned dough to try to bribe the corrupt elements in the regime's army. Pay an amount of funds from your group's supply and take a corresponding number of blue dice. Roll them and lower the dictator Threat Level one step for each rolled success. You must commit to the number of funds you spend before actually rolling and cannot use rebels to support that roll.
Certain events can increase the cost of bribing.
End of Activation
After all desired actions have been executed, the mercenary's activation ends with an Enemy Activation.
All hostile miniatures in the active mercenaries' Sector act according to their activation rules before the next mercenary activates. If there are no enemies present in the mercenary's current Sector, this step is skipped.
Enemy Activations are explained later in these rules.
Combat
To free Arulco from the hands of the Dictator, players need to liberate Sectors from enemy forces and defend them against retaliations. Not all Sectors are equally important and so the forces guarding them vary in strength. This is determined by Spawn Cards placed on each occupied Sector as determined by the played Scenario.
Spawn Cards
The difficulty of each occupied Sector is indicated by the facedown Spawn Card on them. The higher the difficulty level, the more challenging the liberation will be. Players should prepare and improve their mercenaries before attempting to liberate more difficult Sectors.
Spawn Card backs indicate a difficulty: Unknown, Weak, Strong, Deadly.
The first time a mercenary enters an occupied Sector, the Spawn Card will be flipped, and that Sector is now contested. A Spawn Card holds all necessary information to setup the battlefield when contesting a Sector.
Place enemy miniatures and tokens on the Areas (marked A to D) as indicated by the Spawn Setup. Most Sectors have several enemy miniatures scattered over the Sector, while others only have tokens placed on them.
Place the Spawn Card aside close to the Sector for reference.
Some Sectors have special rules in place which are described in the Spawn Card's textbox. These may modify the rules of what's possible in that Sector and even provide alternative ways of liberating it. If you used a Group Move to enter a Sector any effects described are applied to all mercenaries in the group.
Certain Spawn Cards specify a reward for defeating them. After liberating a Sector, that reward can be taken by any mercenary inside that Sector after drawing and revealing the reward card.
Example: the mercenaries face one elite and one normal Redshirt in Area B, with one encounter each in Areas A and D. Defeating all enemies and revealing all encounters rewards one loot card which any conscious mercenary in the Sector may take.
Encounters
A Spawn Card may include an encounter icon. For each such icon displayed in one of the Areas displayed on the Spawn Card, place a random Encounter Token from the Encounter Token pool face down in the designated Area.
The first time a mercenary enters an Area with an Encounter Token (or when an Encounter Token is placed in an Area already containing a mercenary), flip that token (or tokens) and execute it immediately. The token is then taken out of the game (NOT put back into the pool). Encounters are only revealed by mercenaries and never by enemies.
If you need to place an encounter and there are no more Encounter Tokens left in the pool, take all out of play encounters and put them back into the pool face down, shuffle them, and then draw a new encounter.
If you need help with resolving an encounter there is a description for each encounter at the end of this rulebook.
Some actions allow you to reveal an encounter in another Area, which is generally a good idea to dodge negative effects. Flip the Encounter Token and immediately follow its instructions like you would normally. If there are no valid targets ignore the encounter and discard it.
Entering Combat
When mercenaries enter an occupied Sector, they choose any Area along the Sector border through which they entered to place their miniature there. If several mercenaries moved into the Sector using the "Group Move" action, each mercenary may choose a different Area as a starting Area.
After all mercenaries have chosen their positions, flip the Spawn Card and place enemy miniatures or Encounter Tokens accordingly. Keep the Spawn Card somewhere close for reference.
The active mercenary may then continue their Activation Phase.
Running out of miniatures: What happens if you run out of miniatures due to your team being engaged in several Sectors? Well first of all, you may want to be a little more careful with the places you start a fight in as that will usually put you at a disadvantage. But if you insist on getting in trouble, we have provided extra enemy tokens for just such a situation.
Liberating a Sector
In Jagged Alliance everything revolves around liberating and holding Sectors. There is no single best way of liberating a Sector, as the terrain and enemy presence vary, making some Sectors better approached as a group and some as a Lone Wolf, but usually it will involve some sort of combat. The bad guys simply won't leave by themselves…
Some very important basic rules of Sector Combat are:
- A. A mercenary cannot move out of a contested Sector. The only way to leave combat is to flee during the start of your activation (see Activation Phase).
- B. Mercenaries cannot attack or use equipment across Sector borders unless explicitly stated, but they can enter a contested Sector during their own activation or as part of a Group Move.
- C. At the end of each mercenary's Activation, all enemies inside that mercenary's current Sector receive an Enemy Activation.
In order to liberate a Sector, all of the Dictator's forces in it have to be defeated and every Encounter Token inside the sector revealed. Once this is achieved and there is at least one mercenary still standing, the Sector is liberated.
Immediately after the Sector is liberated, your team will:
- Gain any reward listed on the Spawn Card for capturing the Sector and discard the Spawn Card.
- Flip any Reward Tokens placed on the Sector and receive their reward then discard the tokens.
- If there are any Objective Markers on that Sector, follow the instructions in the scenario description and resolve them.
If at any time during combat the last mercenary in that Sector dies or flees the Sector, the battle ends, and the Sector is reset by removing all miniatures and tokens from the Sector. Place the same Spawn Card face up on top of the Sector again. To liberate it, all enemies and all encounters have to be defeated again.
Enemy Cards
Each type of unit fighting in the Dictator's forces has its own card. It shows that enemy's rules regarding its activation actions and conditions and rewards for defeat.
An enemy card shows a basic version of that enemy on the front (One chevron in the upper left corner) and an experienced (Two chevrons) version on the back of their cards. When progressing through the campaign you will be prompted to flip enemy cards. You didn't think it would be easy, right?
1) Icon & Name
The icon by which the enemy is represented throughout the game on Spawn Cards and Encounter Tokens.
2) Initiative & Experience
Initiative determines the order in which an enemy activates in combat. The higher the Initiative Number, the sooner it acts in the Enemy Activation phase. The chevron depicts experience and all enemies start with one chevron. They will become more experienced and dangerous with campaign progress!
3) Stats
Health is how much damage the enemy can suffer before being defeated. When an enemy suffers damage, place a red cube beside that enemy for each point of damage inflicted. Once an enemy has suffered damage equal to (or exceeding) its health, it is defeated. Lay its miniature down to be looted.
The enemy's Armor value reduces the damage it suffers from attacks.
4) Special Rules
Some enemies come with special rules stated here.
5) Attack Pattern
The attack pattern defines how the enemy behaves on activation, meaning whom and how it attacks.
6) Reward
The reward received when looting a defeated enemy of that type.
A missing range value indicates that the enemy is not restricted to any specific distance and treats all mercenaries as being at the same distance. This is important for picking targets.
Enemies never use Stealth, instead, their Stealth value determines their Stealth Difficulty – representing the number of successful stealth rolls a mercenary must make to evade this enemy's attack.
Elite Enemies
Most enemy cards also feature a stat row in yellow (7) for an elite variant. Certain Spawn Cards will require the placement of an elite enemy.
Elite enemies are tougher and have superior equipment. They have increased stats and often apply Conditions when attacking. Elite units are not the same as 'experienced' units, there are elite version of experienced units as well.
Mark elite enemies by placing a yellow base underneath the enemy miniature.
The loot for an elite enemy is defined by the yellow chevrons in the reward Area of the enemy card.
Armor is deducted from each successive attack separately.
Damage depicts the amount of damage points that enemy deals when attacking. Sometimes a damage value is accompanied by a condition icon, meaning that enemy also applies the depicted Condition when attacking.
Range determines the maximum distance an enemy can attack mercenaries from. This also impacts an enemy's movement as they try to reach that range to attack.
Combat
Jagged Alliance is a game about tactical decisions on the battlefield. Making the most out of your limited Stamina and taking calculated risks will decide between victory and defeat for your team.
Mercenary Attacks
During activation a mercenary can use any of their slotted active equipment to fight the Dictator's forces. A mercenary can use each slotted weapon and tool ONCE per activation unless their abilities or cards say something different.
To make an attack, mercenaries use one of the available actions depicted on the weapon or item card and choose a target within the allowed range.
They then suffer Fatigue equal to the cost of the attack as displayed on the card and carry out the action.
Mercenaries cannot voluntarily suffer more fatigue than currently available. If they would have to pay an amount of Stamina that would result in them becoming knocked down, they cannot choose that attack action.
Attacking a target works like this:
- Roll dice matching the number and color of the chosen action on one of their slotted weapon cards.
- Count the number of successes. Each one counts as 1 damage to the target.
- Subtract the target's Armor value from the total. If resulting value is zero or less, no damage was dealt to the target.
- If the resulting value is 1 or higher, place as many red cubes next to the target miniature to mark the damage dealt.
- If the damage suffered by the enemy matches or exceeds its Health value, that enemy is defeated. Remove their Stamina cubes from the Sector and lay down the miniature, to show it can now be looted by a mercenary standing in the same Area.
MANTRA: Enemies never roll, players always roll! Damage, Armor, and Stealth values mean fixed values for enemies!
Example: Raven attacks with her Ruger Mini. She can either shoot from the hip and suffer 1 Fatigue, rolling 1 yellow die for her attack or take some time to get a better shot, suffering 2 Fatigue and rolling 1 yellow die, but adding 1 success to the roll.
Tactical Effects
Equipment doesn't only deal damage (in fact some may not deal damage at all), it also provides additional tactical effects, described as a text directly on the card or through icons.
The order of icons depicted on the card (left to right) determines if an effect takes place before or after dealing damage.
- Retreat – the target of the attack has to retreat into any adjacent Area (not across Sector borders), following normal rules of movement. Retreating has no costs for the target. Players decide where to move a retreating target.
- Free Move – the active mercenary can immediately make a free move. This free move also allows moving out of occupied Areas unharmed without suffering the usual Wound.
- Area of Effect – the effects of that action apply to all miniatures in the target Area. Damage is rolled once and applied to any (valid targets in that Area).
- Expertise – any dice that show the Expertise icon after being rolled add another die of the same color which is rolled immediately. Dice that are added this way can trigger Expertise again!
Durability
Some equipment has a special ability that can be activated by damaging its Durability. This represents wearing down the barrel through excessive automatic fire, limited special ammunition being spent, or draining the battery of a device.
Durability always has to be spent with an action from that equipment and announced in advance, before rolling dice for the action.
When spending durability, take a black cube and cover a free Durability icon on the used equipment. The action taken is now augmented by the equipment's ability.
Area of Effect damage is rolled once and applied to any present miniature separately, friend or foe. You are never damaged by your own AoE attack! Only armor will protect against AoE attacks, so mercenaries cannot hide from one by rolling their Stealth to prevent damage!
- Burst – instead just once, the action is repeated the depicted amount of times in succession. The mercenary can switch targets between repetitions. Each repetition counts as an independent attack when determining armor, but spent consumables and abilities augment all burst attacks.
Lost Durability can be repaired through a successful Mechanical roll.
Using all durability of equipment does not prohibit the use of the equipment, but its ability cannot be activated any more.
Example: Raven can spend one durability of her Ruger while attacking, to apply the "Suppressed" condition to her target.
Conditions
Hit vs Damaged
When executing attacks that apply conditions or move miniatures, it is not necessary for that attack to deal any damage. A miniature is always hit by an attack and all effects are applied, regardless of any damage dealt. The only exception from this being a successful Stealth attempt by a mercenary to evade an enemy attack.
Example: Ivan is attacked by a Bloodcat. His sturdy armor blocks all the damage but since he is hit, he still suffers from Bleeding. If Ivan had successfully used his Stealth instead of Armor, he would not have been hit and thus would neither suffer damage nor the condition.
Conditions
Some attacks and encounters can cause a Condition for the targeted miniature. Each Condition can only be active once per miniature, so you cannot suffer two Bleedings or mark the same enemy twice.
- Marked – Each attack against a marked target deals +1 damage. The condition is applied for the entire duration of a combat (until liberating or fleeing the Sector) or until the marked target is knocked down or dead.
- Bleeding – After its activation, the target immediately suffers one wound that cannot be countered by a roll or blocked by armor. Bleeding remains on the target until it is removed by healing it like a wound (or in case of an enemy, when the Sector is reset).
- Suppressed – Suppressed enemies cannot move during their next activation and their unmodified damage value is halved (rounded down). Mercenaries instead suffer 1 additional Fatigue when using equipment (slotted or from the inventory) and for each step when moving as well (1 additional Wound when moving out of an Area with at least one enemy in it). Remove the condition at the end of the suppressed miniature's activation.
- Severe Injury – Mercenaries receive Severe Injuries after being knocked down. A Severe Injury reduces a mercenary's maximum and current Stamina by 1. If a mercenary receives a second Severe Injury, they die instead. Severe Injuries are permanent and can only be removed by certain consumable items.
Enemy Activation
Enemies are activated in order of their Initiative. The higher the Initiative Number, the sooner an enemy acts. If there are several miniatures with the same Initiative present, elite enemies break ties first followed by the one closest to a mercenary.
If there ever remains a tie during an enemy's activation, the players decide how to break it.
Activation
Activated enemies execute their attack pattern from left to right. Some enemies have very simple patterns, others more complex ones. Pay close attention
Movement
The enemy moves one step towards the target for each movement icon depicted, choosing the shortest possible path.
If there are multiple shortest paths, it chooses the Area with the least miniatures in it (Enemy and Mercenary). If there is still a tie, players choose which path the enemy picks.
Enemies that can attack from where they currently stand never move.
Example: The Redshirt is activated. His attack pattern (displayed on the left) dictates him to first move and then attack. He moves one Area closer to his closest target (which is Ivan). This brings him in attack range, so he attacks his closest enemy (still Ivan).
If Ivan or any other mercenary would have stood in the same Area as the Redshirt, the Redshirt would have skipped the movement and immediately attacked.
Picking a Target
Activated enemies always target the mercenary closest to them. If there are several mercenaries in equal distance, break ties by attacking the currently active mercenary or the closest mercenary clockwise around the table from the active mercenary. Knocked down mercenaries are ignored by all enemies!
Enemies with a "-" instead of a range value regard all mercenaries in the Sector as being at the same distance, usually picking the active mercenary as target.
Attack
The enemy attacks the selected mercenary if within the attack range of the enemy. If the distance exceeds the attack range, no attack takes place.
When an enemy attacks, they automatically deal a fixed amount of damage and the mercenaries roll how much of it is prevented by their Armor or evaded through Stealth.
To calculate damage to a mercenary, you will have to:
- Determine enemy Damage value, indicated by the value on the enemy card plus any modifiers gained from Missions or Area effects.
- Collect all dice for the targeted mercenary's Armor on slotted cards granting armor modified by the effects of the Area they stand in.
Remember: Mercenaries may use their slotted equipment's Durability ability to gain additional armor dice. This must be done in advance, before rolling any dice.
- Roll the dice and apply rerolls or Expertise if necessary.
- Subtract the total rolled from enemy damage dealt.
- For every point of damage that remains, the mercenary takes one wound.
- Conditions and tactical effects are applied regardless of damage dealt in the order they appear in the attack pattern.
Instead of rolling for armor, mercenaries can also choose Stealth to hide from an attack. This is an all-or-nothing chance to evade all damage dealt, with the risk of taking all damage dealt if the roll fails. Successfully hiding from an attack also means, the mercenary is not hit by the attack and no additional effects or conditions are applied.
To use Stealth against an attack:
- Determine enemy Stealth Difficulty, indicated by the value on the enemy card plus any modifiers gained from Missions.
- Assemble all Stealth dice provided by equipment and the current Area. Damage any equipment to gain additional helpful effects.
- Roll the dice and apply rerolls if required.
- If the sum of rolled successes equals or exceeds the Stealth Difficulty, the mercenary is not hit by the attack and suffers neither damage nor conditions.
- If the stealth attempt failed, the mercenary has to take the full Damage value and suffer all effects and conditions from the attack.
Different equipment provides different amounts of armor and stealth dice. Players should think about how to equip their mercenaries and when to use which option. Stealth is riskier but can help keep your Stamina pool high for a powerful retaliation. Don't forget that certain Areas provide a bonus to armor or stealth!
After the pattern has been followed to the end, the next enemy is activated.
End of Starter Rules
You are now ready to play Scenario 1 and take your first step into liberating Arulco!
During the first scenario the Dictator Phase will be skipped.
On the following pages, you will find new rules that are introduced in subsequent scenarios.
A.I.M.
The Association of International Mercenaries, Incorporated (A.I.M. Inc.) is an international clearinghouse for hired soldiers. It supplies your unit with gear, weapons and allies - for a price.
The A.I.M deck consists of numbered cards sorted in an ascending order.
During the campaign, winning scenarios will prompt you to draw specific cards and form a separate MARKET DECK. Whenever new items and allies are unlocked by your campaign progress, they are added to the Market Deck and can be bought from there.
Discarded A.I.M. cards (due to events or loss of life) always go back to the Market Deck unless it is stated otherwise on the card.
Designate one player to keep track of all funds and rebels, which form your team's Resource Pool. These are shared by all players and any mercenary can use them during their activation.
Funds
Funds, Dough, Greenbacks, Bucks, whatever you call it, they make the world go around and are the essential currency used to purchase a variety of things. They can be used to bribe the dictator's officers to lower the threat level during a scenario or to buy powerful new equipment and allies before entering into a new scenario.
Gain funds through selling items, income from mines, or finding a nice suitcase of cash or other valuables during battle.
Buying/Selling items
Players can buy any unlocked items and allies from the Market Deck between scenarios. They can also sell any items their team owns at half (rounded down) the item value in cash.
Rebels
Liberating towns will provide the players with a constant supply of Rebels. Rebels have two uses:
Support a mercenary
Before attempting a skill, attack, or armor roll, a mercenary can decide to discard Rebels to gain an additional orange die for each spent Rebel.
Defend Sectors
Rebels can be placed in Sectors with rebel slots to help defend against the dictator's counter-attacks.
Rebels placed into Sectors are discarded at the end of the scenario.
Income
Certain scenarios when completed provide resources that can be diverted to help the rebel cause. These are usually mines and towns that can provide a steady supply of Funds and Rebels over the course of the campaign.
At the start of a scenario, every Income card owned by the team produces Income. The respective resources are taken from the reserve and placed into the team's Resource Pool in addition to resources carried over from previous scenarios.
Allies
1) Ally Icon and Name
Each mercenary can slot a limited number of allies. As long as an Ally is slotted into a mercenary's Ally Slot, they share their capabilities with that mercenary.
2) Abilities
Each Ally provides valuable support in form of better Skills, additional Stamina, or new Actions.
Allies that provide better Skills do so permanently as long as they are equipped.
If an Ally provides an Action, that Action can only be used once per Activation like any other equipment.
3) Cost
Not all Allies join because they believe in a free Arulco. Some want to be paid in advance with the displayed amount of Funds before they agree to join. These can be acquired between scenarios from your Market Deck.
When allies are gained, immediately attach them to any of your team's mercenaries. If there are no free slots in the team, decide to either discard this ally or swap them with another one (and discard that one).
Allies can only be swapped between mercenaries during the setup phase of a new scenario.
Sometimes the game requires an ally to be killed. If this happens, choose one ally, remove them from the game and write their name into the campaign progress sheet under "killed allies" (so you do not accidentally add them again later). There are no second chances for allies either…
The Dictator
The Dictator Board
The Dictator is the antagonist and take him or her out is the final objective of any Jagged Alliance campaign.
Dictator's bring their own rules or rule modifications (1) with them. You will learn to fear and hate them during the course of the game.
The Threat Level (2) represents the attention the mercenaries' actions have attracted from the dictator. The higher the threat the more dangerous events and attacks will happen. You will go from being a simple nuisance to becoming public enemy number one!
During the Player Phase, players may do all kinds of things to offend the dictator, such as liberating valuable Sectors, solving missions, or still breathing. Every time you are prompted to increase the Threat, add a Threat Token (5) to the Dictator board.
At the start of the Dictator Phase the Threat Level will increase by the amount of Threat Tokens on the Dictator Board by moving the Threat Tracker (6) upwards.
The Threat Level only ever increases at the beginning of the Dictator Phase. This means you have time to react by getting in a bribe or two before things get ugly. Lowering the Threat Level however happens immediately.
Event Card Slots (3) are used to place event cards on them during every Dictator Phase. These represent things happening on Arulco and may help or hinder the mercenaries. There are three card slots for day or night respectively.
The Day/Night token (4) represents the time the current phase occurs in. During day certain things behave differently than during night. Most notably the Threat Level will increase by 1 during daytime regardless of mercenary actions, but NOT during night time, as the oppressive regime gets a good night's sleep in.
Dictator Phase
When it is their turn, the dictator performs following steps in order:
- Increase the Threat Level, making the game harder, and resolve any Counter-attacks.
- Draw and resolve an Event, potentially changing the time of day as well.
Increase Threat
The Threat Level rises by the amount of Threat Tokens on the Dictator Board.
For each Threat Token on the board, increase Threat Level by one by moving up the Threat Tracker to the next circle on the board, execute any effects derived from the new Threat Level and discard the token, then repeat this until no more tokens are left on the dictator board.
As soon as the marker on the Threat Level reaches a field with a counter-attack token, execute a COUNTER-ATTACK and discard the counter-attack token.
If the maximum Threat Level is reached, do not increase it any further but discard the remaining Threat Tokens. Then trigger the Dictator's special ability as described on the dictator board.
Example: Deidranna's Threat increases to 3 which is still inside the yellow Threat Level. An event card is drawn and shows the 'Patching Up' event. Following its instructions, players have to remove all conditions from all enemies anywhere on the board.
Resolve Events
After all Threat Tokens have been discarded and the Threat Level increased accordingly, draw one Event Card from the top of the event deck corresponding to the current Threat Level color.
Read the event out loud and follow its instructions.
Certain events have immediate effects, while others modify the rules for the upcoming turn.
Place the drawn Event Card in the next free event card slot on the right side of the Dictator board. If there is no free slot, discard all cards currently filling the slots and shuffle them into their respective decks, flip the Day/Night token, and place the drawn event in one of the empty slots. This represents Arulco's day/night cycle.
End Dictator Phase
After the event has been completely resolved and added to the Dictator board, discard all Threat tokens from the board to prepare the next turn.
You may also flip event cards that have no effect on the game anymore to prevent confusion.
If the Day/Night token depicts a Threat symbol on the face up side, add a Threat token to the Dictator board.
Now its the players turn again.
Counter-Attacks
Sooner or later the Dictator will initiate a counter-attack, trying to recapture the current region your team is active in. This is represented by the COUNTER-ATTACK tokens at certain points of the Threat Level track. Each time the marker moves onto such a token, a counter attack is triggered and the token is removed.
Counter-Attacks are resolved immediately when triggered. So, if increasing the Threat Level triggers an attack, it is resolved before drawing the event card (and even before increasing the Threat Level further if it would increase several steps).
An attack always targets the whole board not only a single Sector, as the enemy is trying to recapture the region and drive the mercenaries and Rebels out of it.
To defend against it, the players must train and spend rebels to man liberated Sectors or use cards that help them during attacks.
Whenever a counter-attack takes place:
- Determine Attack Strength by looking at the current Threat Level on the Dictator board. The number of skulls displayed equals the attack strength.
- Several other cards (like Missions and Lieutenants) may increase the Attack Strength further.
- Determine how many Rebels have been trained to man Sectors and take one orange die per Rebel.
- Determine if there are any additional dice gained through items or allies and add them to the pool.
- Choose if you want to discard rebels as support from your Resource Pool to gain one extra orange die per rebel discarded. (Note that rebels manning Sectors are NOT discarded after attack).
- Roll the accumulated dice and subtract the rolled successes from the Attack Strength of the counter-attack.
If the attack strength has been reduced to zero or below by your roll, the counter-attack was valiantly fought off and nothing happens but remember to discard all rebels used as support for your roll.
If there is any attack strength left, the region you are currently in has been recaptured by the Dictator's forces and the scenario is immediately lost.
Your remaining rebels and mercenaries are forced to flee the Sector and live to fight another day. But your pride will surely be hurt!
Lieutenants
Like your allies, a Dictator has people to support him or her. They are called Lieutenants and make your Mercenaries lives that much harder.
Lieutenants come into play through dictator cards, special events or in certain scenario setups. Place the Lieutenants card next to the dictator board until you have discovered that Lieutenant's location.
Each Lieutenant is unique, so if you defeat them, they will be out of the game for your entire campaign.
They all have specific abilities (1), which may trigger once upon drawing the Lieutenant or have a permanent influence as long as that Lieutenant remains in play. The Lieutenant's abilities are activated the moment the Lieutenant card is brought into play.
Each Lieutenant has a Sector Defense Ability (2) that states how to modify the Sector they are in when the team tries to defeat them. They always up the ante by replacing or adding additional enemies, or change the Sector setup completely.
Fighting a Lieutenant
Before you can fight them, you first need to find them as Lieutenants hide out in occupied Sectors, but you usually don't know where exactly. You can uncover a Lieutenant's location through items, resolving specific missions or due to scenario setup conditions.
When uncovering the whereabouts of Lieutenants place their card on the Sector you located them in. From now on whenever a player attacks that Sector the Lieutenant's Sector Defense Ability is activated.
Liberating the Sector also disposes of the Lieutenant stationed there. Their card is removed from the game and the mercenaries draw the displayed reward card from the A.I.M. deck (any mercenary in that Sector may take it after it is revealed).
Lieutenants stay in play across scenarios. All Lieutenants that are in a Sector when a scenario is won return to the Dictator's side. Their location has to be uncovered in one of the next scenarios again.
If the players ever flee a Sector with a Lieutenant in it, return the Lieutenant to the Dictator's side as well.
While Lieutenants appear in a Sector, their special abilities are still active! Better take them out fast!
End of Intermediate Rules
You are now ready to play Scenario 2 and liberate your first city.
During the second scenario there will be no counter-attacks.
On the following pages, you will find new rules that are introduced in subsequent scenarios.
Missions
Missions are plots by the dictator taking place somewhere in Arulco that you may want to foil on top of completing your current Scenario objective.
Missions have an ongoing effect (1), which modifies the game as long as the mission is active. They also have one or more resolution conditions (2) you need to complete in the order they are displayed in, to fulfill the mission and gain the rewards (3). Some missions are guarded (4), but not all missions require you to kill the guards to solve them.
Example: The S.A.M. Site mission requires the 2 guarding Redshirts to be killed first and then 2 Mechanical skill successes.
Mission Access
There are generally two types of missions: those that take place anywhere on Arulco outside your current region and those that are part of your active story and take place inside your region.
Both are accessible from different Sectors on the board as indicated by the Mission Access Tokens placed during scenario setup.
Each mission card has an icon showing which Access Token it belongs to.
As soon as missions become available the scenario setups will tell you where to place the mission access tokens. Those connect the Sector they are placed next to with all missions matching the mission access icon. Treat each mission card as if it were adjacent to the Sector with its access icon, so the normal rules for movement apply.
Solving Missions
All the displayed resolution conditions of a mission need to be completed in their displayed order (left to right).
Missions may feature active enemy forces you have to kill before you can resolve them or require specific skill rolls.
Remember that you need to use a Command Action to be able to attempt a skill roll and you need to roll at least the number of displayed successes, as you cannot accumulate successes for the same skill test from different rolls.
However, you don't need to fulfill all conditions at once during a Player Phase, so several mercenaries can attempt to solve the mission together.
Example: Fox fulfills the first condition during her turn, while Shadow fulfills the remaining second condition in his turn, solving the mission.
When a mission is resolved, follow the reward text and pay out any mission rewards, then move all mercenaries from that mission card back to the Mission Access Sector. If that Sector has become occupied again, just treat this as a Group Move by the mercenaries into an occupied Sector.
Bounty Hunts
Arulco is known as a safe haven for disreputable types and thus the country is crawling with wanted terrorists with a price on their head, so from time to time a bounty hunt mission will pop up.
Bounty hunt missions work like any other mission, but there is no ongoing effect caused by the mission being active. The mission depicts the target and its combat values. Combat begins when entering the mission with one or more mercenaries. Treat the mission card itself as the enemy (so you are always in the same Area as the target).
The bounty hunt is successful when the enemy has been defeated. Take the rewards and remove the mission from the ongoing campaign. Reset any damage dealt to the card in case you decide to flee the mission.
New Missions
New mission can be revealed by the scenario setup or by the dictator. When setting up a scenario follow the instructions on which missions to add to the game and which tokens and enemies to place on them. Whenever the dictator adds a new mission, draw the top card from the mission deck and place it near its mission access. There can be several missions accessible through the same mission access at any time. Enemies that guard a mission are not placed on it until a mercenary enters that mission!
A mercenary can enter a mission via the mission access following the established rules of movement between Sectors.
Like contested Sectors, once a mission has been entered, mercenaries cannot leave it unless they solve the mission or flee (resetting the mission).
Missions During the Campaign
When playing the campaign, unsolved missions are reset and remain in play across scenarios. So, when you still have an unsolved active mission at the end of your scenario just add the unsolved mission cards to your Save deck. When setting up the next scenario, add those missions again as active missions in addition to any defined by the scenario setup.
The Dictator's minions are relentlessly carrying out their orders. Mercenaries should take care not to be overwhelmed with negative influences from missions and solve them whenever they can before those become a massive impediment to their chances of success.
F.A.Q.
How should I return cards to their deck after selling or discarding them? Simply put all backsides together – that means sold starting gear goes into the A.I.M. Market Deck as do allies.
When can I buy/sell/change allies? Only between scenarios, however some allies cost 0$ as they joined for the cause. Those can be discarded during a scenario and regained later at no cost.
Do I get money back when returning allies to the Market Deck? You can sell them as you would an item at half cost rounded down (Essentially, you end their contract early and get half your money back).
Can I store gear or allies between scenarios, so I don't take them with me into the current one, but keep them for a later game? Yes, but stored gear and allies aren't accessible during the scenario.
What if I run out of mercenaries? Then your rate of attrition tells you something has gone seriously wrong and no one will want to work for you anymore. Start from the beginning and maybe pick a different strategy.
What if the game requires me to discard/remove a card or token but the players do not have such thing? Nothing. If you do not have the item, ally, rebel or funds, you can't give it away. You're off the hook, compadre.
Who does an enemy with range 1 target, when my active mercenary stands in an Area adjacent to that enemy, but another player is inside the enemy's Area? Enemies always target the mercenary closest to them, so he would attack the other player. Unless the enemy is a Sniper or the Tank. Snipers and Tanks ignore range and always target the active mercenary if possible.
Encounter Tokens
There are different types of encounters associated with Encounter Tokens. Below is a list of what happens when you flip a token of the respective type to reveal the encounter.
- Loot – Keep the Encounter Token in the Area. A mercenary can loot it like a corpse, drawing a card from the deck of the corresponding quality, then discard it.
- Take Fatigue – All mercenaries in the encounter Area take 2 fatigue, then discard the encounter.
- Enemy – Place a miniature of the shown enemy in the Area, then discard the encounter.
- Resource – Immediately trade the encounter in for the depicted number of funds or rebels and add it to your team's Resource Pool.
- Condition – Every mercenary and enemy in the encounter Area receives the depicted condition. Discard the encounter.
- Mine – Discard and deal 3 damage to everyone in the same Area as the mine. Mine damage cannot be prevented by Stealth but can be reduced by successful armor rolls (for mercenaries) or armor (for enemies).
- Threat – Immediately add a Threat token to the Dictator board, then discard the encounter.
- Nothing – Nothing happens. No news is good news.
Enemy Explanation
Some enemies have special abilities or conditions explained below:
Snipers and Tank "Ignore Range" When determining targets, all mercenaries in the Sector are regarded as equally distant. This means the sniper or tank always targets the active mercenary. If that is impossible due to the mercenary already being knocked out or dead, Snipers and Tanks will attack the closest player's mercenary in the same Sector going clockwise around the table from the initially active mercenary's player.
Advanced Redshirt "Search Party" This enemy's Stealth Stat is calculated by adding the number of all Redshirts present in the Sector (incl. Elites).
Advanced Sniper is "Hidden" When placing an advanced sniper, do not place a miniature but take a matching set of sniper tokens and place one on each spawn symbol A-D in the Sector. These tokens behave like encounters for all rule purposes. The sniper cannot be attacked until a mercenary reveals the corresponding crosshair token. Hidden snipers still activate during each enemy activation! Use different sets of colored tokens if more than one hidden sniper is in the Sector.
Shield "Attack All" Ability The Shield attacks all mercenaries in their Area. This does not equal an Area of Effect attack, meaning Stealth can be used to evade the attack.
Bloodcat Attack Pattern The Bloodcat has two attack patterns, meaning it either attacks twice in succession or moves up to two Areas and then attacks once.
Tank "Armor" The Tank is heavily armored and not all attacks have a chance to hurt it. When you attack the Tank, spend fatigue and use durability then roll the dice normally. Before applying any damage, reveal a Tank Token and deduct the displayed armor value. As soon as you have dealt damage to the tank's health, before applying any subsequent attacks, turn all tokens face down and shuffle them. If you deal no damage, all revealed tokens remain face up but do not count for future attacks.
When attacking the Tank with an Area of Effect attack, treat it as a second attack with the same rolled damage.
One of the tank tokens prevents the Tank from killing an ally during its next activation when revealed. Revealing the token already blocks the tank's ability, it is not necessary for the token to still be face up during the tank's activation.
Campaign Tracker Tables
Mark your campaign progress in one of the tables. Tick off a box everytime the scenario book prompts you to.
When liberating a city tick off the topmost box and add the associated A.I.M. cards to your Market Deck. You may now buy these cards between scenarios.
When you have ticked off a box in the Enemy Experience column all enemies of that type always appear in their experienced version for the remaining campaign. Flip the enemy card to its "Experienced" side during setup.
Enter all removed cards, like killed allies or lieutenants, into the Notes tab. You can also keep track of your funds and rebels inbetween scenarios here.
Each Campaign Tracker table records the Players, a Liberated Cities checklist tied to A.I.M. card number ranges, an Enemy Experience checklist (Redshirt, Sniper, Bloodcat, Shield), and a Removed Cards/Notes area.
Reference Sheet
Player Phase
- On Activation
- Refresh Command Action
- Recover Fatigue
- "On Activation" Effects
- Decide whether Flee
- Reorganize equipment
- Actions
- Movement (1 Stamina per step)
- Attack (based on weapon)
- Loot (free)
- Use Inventory Item (free)
- Spend Command Action: Train, Group Move, Skills, Bribe
- Enemy Activation
- Activate each enemy in the active mercenary's Sector.
Dictator Phase
- Increase Threat: Increase Threat Level for each Threat Token on the Dictator Board.
- Possible Counter-Attack: Defend with Rebels trained and positioned in liberated Sectors and discard additional Rebels out of your supply to gain additional dice.
- Event Card: Draw and execute an Event card based on current Threat Level.
- Daytime Threat: If the Day/Night token depicts a skull, add one Threat token to the Dictator Board.
Tactical Effect Icons
- Retreat – move target into any adjacent Area (not across Sector borders).
- Free Move – immediately make a free move.
- Area of Effect – apply the effects to all miniatures in the target Area (not including the shooter himself).
- Burst – repeat the action the depicted amount of times in succession.
- Expertise – reroll all dice with the Expertise symbol and add successes to your total.
Condition Icons
- Marked - all attacks against a marked target deal +1 damage. Removed at the end of combat.
- Suppressed - Mercenaries have to spend one additional Stamina for each action. Enemies cannot move and deal half damage. Removed after activation.
- Bleeding - bleeding units receive one wound at the end of their activation. Stays until healed with Medic skill roll.
- Severe Injury - lose 1 Stamina. Kill Mercenary when receiving a second severe injury.
Resources
- Funds – Spend to bribe officers to lower Threat level or between scenarios to buy equipment.
- Rebels – Discard to add an orange die to any attack or armor roll. Train into Sectors to defend against counter-attacks.