Judgemint of the Realm Lords Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• SETUP (see back of box for reference)
• HOW TO WIN
• ROUND PHASES
  • Phase 1: Movement
  • Phase 2: Combat
    • Combat Setup
    • Before Combat
    • Test X
    • Exhaust
    • Combat Round
    • Defeating the enemy
    • Being defeated
  • Phase 3: Trade
  • Phase 4: Experience (exp) & level-up
  • Phase 5: Recover
  • Phase 6: Doom
• Item Cards
• HOW-TO-PLAY VIDEO

SETUP (see back of box for reference)

• Map: Shuffle the 18 Map cards, then place them face up, horizontally, in a 3 by 6 grid, with the text oriented correctly. This will create a 6 by 6 grid of 36 spaces. Ensure that each of the 6 rows and columns has only 1 town (indicated by a unique color, artwork, and name, plus an additional text box), rearranging cards if needed.
• Character and Stat Card: Pick a character. Place the gold cube on 3G. Place the stat card above your character, lined up with the 3 combat stats (🏹, ⚔️, 🌀). Place red wooden cubes on the starting ❤️ health and ⚡ energy listed on your character. Roll 2 dice, one for the column and one for the row, to determine your starting location on the map. Place the miniature there. Re-roll if a town is rolled.
• Experience (exp) cubes: Mix the 29 clear exp cubes in the tin and blindly place one in each non-town map space. Start with the spaces around your character, moving outward. Do not place one in your starting space.
• Doom Clock: Place a black cube on space 1 of the Doom Clock. Set the difficulty by placing a cube on the tick timer.
• Combat card: Keep 3 black cubes near the combat card for later. Shuffle the enemy type/stance deck and keep it to the right of the combat card (ENEMY TYPE side up).
• Item cards: Shuffle each deck of item cards, keep them face down above the left side of the map. Draw 2 cards from each, shuffle them together, then place one face up to the left of each row of map cards. These are the starting items in each town in the corresponding row.
• Other stuff: Keep the Enemy Tier I, II, III, and Realm Lords reference cards, as well as the 3 dice, nearby.

HOW TO WIN

To win, you must defeat the Death Lord or 3 of the other Realm Lords before the doom clock reaches the end. To do this, you must defeat enemies to earn experience and gold, spend experience to level up, and spend gold on items.

ROUND PHASES

Each round has 6 phases: Movement, Combat, Trade, Experience, Recover, and Doom.

Phase 1: Movement

If you are at full health, roll 2 dice and pick the highest. If you are below full health, roll only 1 die. This determines your move points. The map spaces list how many points they cost to enter. You cannot move diagonally. You need not spend all your points. You may move through cubes.

Phase 2: Combat

If you end movement in a space with an exp cube, you must fight the enemy. Combat will start with a Before Combat phase, followed by a number of combat rounds.

Combat Setup

Take an enemy card matching the cube (green=I, yellow=II, blue=III, red=Realm Lords) and roll a die to determine which enemy you fight. Each Realm Lord may only be defeated once, so re-roll if needed. Remove the cube from the map and place it on the enemy's picture as a reference. Check the enemy's text for any special abilities. Set the enemy's health on the combat card with a black cube. Roll a die to determine the enemy's type. Shuffle the enemy type/stance cards and place the deck, ENEMY TYPE side up, in line with the arrow pointing at the type you rolled.

Before Combat

Certain items, enemies, and characters have Before Combat text. The enemy resolves their Before Combat ability first (if they have one), then the player may resolve a single Before Combat ability of their own.

Test X

Certain items and abilities will require you to Test either melee, ranged, or magic, followed by a number. To perform this test, simply roll 2 dice and add the modifier you have in the required stat (see Add modifiers below). Rolling equal to or greater than the number is a success.

Exhaust

Certain cards will require being exhausted to be used. Simply rotate the card 90 degrees to exhaust it. You may only exhaust 1 card during each Before Combat phase and each combat round. So, if you exhaust an item card to prevent losing health during the Before Combat phase, you cannot exhaust another item card to use its Before Combat ability.

Combat Round

Each combat round has 5 steps: Stance, Tactic, Flee, Enemy Stance, and Resolution.

1. Stance: Place a black cube on one of the 3 stances on the combat card (🏹, ⚔️, 🌀). Each round, you must pick a new stance unless you spend 1 energy to maintain the same stance as the previous round.
2. Tactic: Place a black cube on either Attack or Defend.
   • Attack 🗡️ allows you to deal damage.
   • Defend 🛡️ does no damage, but adds 1 to your combat roll and can allow you to flee.
3. Flee: If you choose 🛡️, you may attempt to flee. Place your figure on its side to indicate that you are fleeing.
4. Enemy Stance: Reveal the top card of the type/stance deck, lining it up to the right of the deck (ENEMY STANCE side up). The enemy stance is on the far right. If the deck runs out, shuffle and form a new deck. At this time, you may change your chosen tactic by spending 2 energy.
5. Resolution: Now, you will roll the dice to resolve the combat round.

Countering: Each stance counters one other stance, indicated by the arrows on the combat card; ⚔️ (melee) counters 🌀 (magic), 🌀 counters 🏹 (ranged), 🏹 counters ⚔️. If your stance counters the enemy's, roll 3 dice and pick the 2 highest. If you are countered, roll 3 and pick the 2 lowest. If your stances match, roll 2 dice.

Add modifiers: Each combat stat has 2 numbers (X/x). The first is your combat roll modifier. The second is the damage 💥 you deal in that stance. Add the modifier to your dice roll total. NOTE: Enemies have a target number rather than a modifier, for they do not make combat rolls.

Compare combat roll: Compare the roll to the enemy target number that corresponds with the stance they drew this round. If your roll equals or is higher than the number, you hit. If your roll is lower, the enemy hits you.

Damage: Deal damage based on the stance you or the enemy picked, depending on who hits. Lower the health value by 1 for each damage. If it falls below 1, either you or the enemy is dead. If you both have health left over, proceed back to step 1. You may only deal damage if you choose 🗡️. If you chose 🛡️, you deal no damage even if you hit. If you choose to flee, and you hit while defending, the combat ends, and you may stand the figure back up and place the clear cube back on your space.

Defeating the enemy

If you defeat the enemy, take the exp cube and keep it near your character card. Also, move the gold cube based on how much gold the enemy awards.

Being defeated

If you are defeated, lower your gold by half, rounded up, and place your figure in the closest town based on movement points (if there is a tie, you may pick). Return the clear cube back to the map where it was. Reset your ❤️ and ⚡ to max. Skip directly to Phase 5: Recover.

Phase 3: Trade

This phase only takes place if you are in a town. Each town starts with 1 face-up item at the start of the game. When you visit a town for the first time, reveal 2 more items there, one from each type that is not already there. For example, if a town starts with a weapon, you would place a trinket and an armor card the first time you visit. While in a town, you may do any or all of the following:

• Heal: Spend 1G per ❤️, up to your max.
• Rest: Spend 1G to raise your ⚡ to its max.
• Sell: Discard an item to gain half its gold value (round up).
• Buy: Spend gold for the items available in that town.

Each town has an ability that you may use while visiting.

• Galavanton: Gain 1 extra gold when selling any item
• House of Erm: Swap any 2 exp cubes on the map
• Ryn's Rest: Heal 1 ❤️ per visit, up to you max
• Windhome: Fill your ⚡ to its max.
• Marketon: Draw an additional item card of your choice for this town (first visit only).
• War Camp: Move any exp cube(s) from any combat stat(s) to any other(s), paying 1G for each cube.

Phase 4: Experience (exp) & level-up

You start the game at level 0. You may spend the experience you have earned to level up. Each exp cube is worth an amount based on its color (green=1, yellow=2, blue=3, red=4). Each level-up costs exp equal to the level you are gaining. So, the first level-up costs 1, the second costs 2, etc. You may only exchange cubes for those of smaller amounts if there are enough spent cubes to do so. Otherwise, the remainder is lost. Each level-up may do 1 of the following:

• Raise a combat stat by 1: Place one of the spent cubes on the appropriate track (🏹, ⚔️, 🌀), increasing its modifier.
• Raise max ⚡ by 2: Place one of the spent exp cubes 1 space above your new maximum, and raise your current ⚡ by 2. The new cube shows that you cannot raise your current ⚡ any higher. If increasing your max ⚡ again, simply raise both the exp cube and the red cube by 2.
• Raise max ❤️ by 1: Place one of the spent cubes 1 space above your new maximum. Raise your current ❤️ by 1. If raising max ❤️ again, simply raise both cubes 1 space.

Phase 5: Recover

Gain 1 ⚡ up to your max. Reset all exhausted cards.

Phase 6: Doom

Roll 2 dice and compare them to the cube's position on the tick timer. If the rolled total is equal to or greater than the tick timer, advance the doom clock by 1 and reset the tick timer to the starting position based on difficulty. If the roll is lower than the tick timer, advance the cube one space on the tick timer. If the doom clock ever reaches the end, the game ends, and you lose.

Item Cards

Each item will have the following icons:

• A gold value: How much you must pay to buy the item.
• An item type: Denotes how many of that item you may carry. You may have a total of 1 clothing item 👕, 2 hand items 🤚, and unlimited bag items 💰.
• A use symbol: Shows whether the item must be exhausted 🔄, discarded ❌, or simply owned ♾️.
• A reminder on using item cards: During the Before Combat step, you may only use a single Before Combat ability, whether it is from your character or an item card. Furthermore, during each combat round (not including Before Combat), you may only exhaust a single item card.

HOW-TO-PLAY VIDEO

For a full rules video, visit the Judgemint of the Realm Lords page on The Game Crafter, scan the QR code, or visit the Game Shrine YouTube channel.

📺 Rules video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFDqFHsSJME